OneShot?
by VictorianPearl
Summary: Do you ever wish you can read a couple of stories that are simple, short, and sweet? Well, you've come to the right place.
1. Introductory

Introductory

Hello, this is VictorianPearl writing. This is simply an explanation as to why I have decided to write one-shots. If you are uninterested in what I have to say you may skip ahead to the first story. For those of you who are interested, keep reading.

I have decided to write one-shots because they're fun. That's the smallest reason why. Sometimes you have a cute idea that you want to write but don't want to turn into a novel. I have many ideas always floating through my mind. I decided that why let them keep floating there when I could share them with many readers.

Another reason is because some of the very first and best stories I read were one-shots. Before I even knew fanfictions exhisted, I discovered a little sight for CCS and read the only fanfiction on the sight. It is one of the best fictions I have read. I think it is mostly due to the reason that it was the first one I read. The fanfiction is actually on ffnet. It is Unfinished Task by Starlight Rose. The sight, sadly, closed only a few days after I had discovered it, leaving me to look for another CCS sight.

I found Kawaii Sakura Shrine on a top 10 CCS sight list. It is one of the few sights I continually check up on. It had the cutest stories, many of which were one-shots. There were two writers, who no longer write, that inspired me to keep on reading the fanfictions. As I kept on reading, I discovered a fiction by Peacewish. She mentioned ffnet in an introductory to one of her chapters. That is how I discovered ffnet. Although, to many readers it may sound boring, it is what has caused me to write. One-shots inspired me to start writing.

I hope that you enjoy _some_ of the one-shots that I will write. I also hope that you will be somewhat inspired by them like I was. Thank you for reading this and please click on the little arrow button signaling the next chapter.

Arigato minna-san to ja ne.


	2. A Long Expected Day

VictorianPearl: Please fasten your seat belts for the first one-shot in my writing career. This fanfiction is going to happen as if our gang is 18 and Sakura still has not transformed all of the cards. Eriol reveals himself as who he truly is…but things turn out differently that he expected them to.

Rating: PG

Type: Humor

Title: A Long Expected Day

Sakura Kinomoto happily bounced outside. School had just ended and she was more than ready to go home. The cherry blossoms were all in bloom and the day could not be more beautiful.

"Sakura, wait up a second!" Syaoran called, running up to Sakura.

Sakura turned and waited for Syaoran to catch up. "Are you walking me home Syaoran-kun?" She asked playfully.

"I guess I can, but I wanted to talk to you about something else." He said, wringing his hands nervously.

"What is it?"

"Will…will you meet me at Tokyo Tower tonight. I-I have something I want to tell you." Syaoran said nervously.

"What is it that you want to talk about Syaoran?" Sakura asked, eyes getting wide.

"Just show up tonight okay?"

Sakura nodded her head. "Sure thing, I'll be there at 7:00 sharp."

About the same time inside an empty classroom

"Come on Syaoran, just tell her and get it over with!" Tomoyo cried, taping her favorite couple enthusiastically.

"Is something wrong Daidojii-san?" Eriol asked.

Tomoyo sighed. "It's just that, I can't understand why it's taking so long for Syaoran to tell her he loves her. I mean, it's only obvious that they're head over heels for each other!"

Eriol sweatdropped. "Everything will happen at the right time." He suddenly got an evil glint in his eye. "It will all happen at the tower."

Tomoyo suddenly became more aware of her surroundings. "Hey Eriol-sama, how in the heck did you find me in this empty classroom. It's been my favorite hiding place for years and nobody's ever caught me before?"

Eriol shifted nervously, "Let's just say I hang out in trees a lot."

x.X "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Erm…I just realized I have an appointment with…someone! Sorry, I have to run!"

Tomoyo had never seen anyone run so fast in her life. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What is he up to?"

At Eriol's Throne of Evil

x.X "I can't believe I actually slipped in front of Daidojii! I've been so good at hiding my secret all of these years."

"We know you have Master." Spinel said automatically, not taking his eyes off his book.

"We have a very important mission to fulfill tonight Suppi-I mean, Spinel. We have to tell Sakura-chan about who we really are at Tokyo Tower tonight." Eriol said professionally.

"Of course Master, whatever you say." Spinel replied unemotionally.

"Yay, I get to toy with TOUYA tonight! This will be so much fun!" Nakuru screamed, bouncing into the room.

"Poor Touya, what did he do to deserve this cruel and unusual punishment." Spinel asked.

"This is going to be soooooo much fun!" Nakuru shrieked, ignoring Spinel's remark.

cough, cough "Excuse me, but we need to focus on more important matters here, mainly ME!" Eriol said, feeling the attention slip away from him.

x.X

"And Sakura-chan of course."

"Master's crazy, ne Suppi?" Nakuru whispered to Spinel.

"He doesn't even compare with the hyperactive butterfly."

"Who's that Suppi?"

x.X

7:00 at Tokyo Tower

Sakura stood near Tokyo Tower, waiting for Syaoran to show up. She had her star wand in her hand. For some reason, she could feel magic all over the place. She spotted Syaoran approaching her, his sword in his hand.

"Syaoran, do you feel all of the magic too?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Syaoran replied, "but I wasn't expecting this to happen tonight though. Of all the nights it just _had_ to happen on this one."

"Are you okay Syaoran?" Sakura asked, a little worried for her not so secret love.

Syaoran blushed and looked down. "Yes, I'm fine."

"KAWAII!" A shout echoed from a nearby tree.

"Tomoyo?" Sakura and Syoaran cried.

"Umm…no," The voice said.

"If you're not Tomoyo then why did you scream KAWAII when I talked to Syaoran?" Sakura asked the tree.

"Yeah?" Syaoran added, "We already know it's you Daidojii. Just come down, you cover is blown."

"Dang it!" The poor girl shrieked, swinging down from the tree she was in. "I was working so nicely on my tape labeled 'Super Kawaii Sakura and Syaoran at Tokyo Tower'."

Before any more conversation could be spoken, a loud rumbling filled the perimeter. The three teenagers' attention was drawn to the top of Tokyo Tower where Eriol stood with his two guardians.

"Hello Sakura-chan, Daidojii-san, cute little descendant."

"What the heck did you call me?" Syaoran yelled.

"Why are you up there Eriol-kun?" Sakura called. "Why are you wearing funny clothes and a really big hat?"

"Excuse me, but these are my traditional Clow robes, they don't even sell them any more." Eriol said proudly.

"What do you mean _Clow_ robes?" Syaoran asked.

"It looks like Master slipped again." Spinel said, watching his master mentally kick himself.

"It means that he's the reincarnation of Clow." Kero panted, showing up with Yue and Touya.

"You're a little late." Sakura commented.

"What the heck is going on here?" Touya asked.

"Good question." Tomoyo said.

"Now please," Eriol tried to get in, "if you would just listen…"

"NO!"

x.X

"Allow me to sum this up." Yue said. "Eriol is going to cast a big spell. You're going to have to defeat him and save all of your friends and transform the rest of the cards at the same time. Does that make sense?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Sakura trailed.

"Enough chit chat," Eriol yelled. "Let's start the battle now. Me, Spinel, Nakuru, against you, Syaoran, Kero, and Yue. Any questions?"

Silence

"Okay, let's start then."

Eriol cast his spell of darkness sending all except the participants to sleep. "If you do not defeat my spell by dawn, everyone will remain asleep forever."

Yue rolled his eyes. "What a melodramatic."

With that line, a great battle broke out. Nothing seemed to work against Eriol. Neither Sakura nor Syaoran could get past his line of defense. Sakura tried to attack Eriol, but ended up having her attack backfire. She was about to be hit by her own magic when Syaoran stepped in.

"No Syaoran! Why did you do that?" Sakura cried, dropping next to Syaoran, holding his hand tightly.

"I had to Sakura, because I lo…" he never finished his sentence; he fell into the magical sleep.

Sakura went rigid. She slowly stood and looked at Eriol. "You just took the light from my life. I will now use that light against you. LIGHT CARD!"

The light card came and Eriol's spell was broken. Everyone woke up and was happy again.

"I'm sorry I had to do that Sakura-chan." Eriol said. "I had to have you transform the last card though."

"I understand Eriol-sama." Sakura said truthfully.

Syaoran began to wake up and Sakura flew to his side. "Syaoran, are you alright?"

Syaoran opened his eyes and looked up into Sakura's. "I wanted to tell you, Sakura, that I love you."

"I know you do."

Syaoran blinked. "You-you know?"

Sakura smiled. "Yes, I finally realized what you blushing around me all the time meant."

Syaoran blushed at that and Sakura laughed.

In the background, Kero and Yue had a hold on Touya, holding him back.

"I'm going to KILL that gaki!" Touya roared.

"Calm down Touya," Yue pleaded. "Everything is going to be alright."

"Alright? You think everything is going to be alright? Look at you! What happened to Yukito? What's happening to my sister? Why can't I get out of your hold?"

"I don't think you're helping." Kero strained.

"SUPER KAWAII!" Tomoyo cried, taping everything that was going on.

Eriol dropped down beside Tomoyo. "So…how did you like tonight Daidojii-san?"

"It was very nice, except for the sleeping part. I missed catching Sakura on tape again." 

"What if I told you that I had Nakuru taping the whole thing for you Tomoyo?" Eriol asked, using her first name.

Tomoyo breathed sharply. "Really?"

"Really."

So ends the Long Expected Day of events. Everyone ends up happily…except for Touya that is.

OOO

VictorianPearl: How did you like it? Don't worry, not all of my one-shots are going to be me attempting humor. I hope you continue reading them.

Arigato minna-san.


	3. Indoctrination

VictorianPearl: I hope you all like this story. I spent a lot of time on it. I will not give any summary to the story except that the characters are 18. I don't want to give anything away.

Rating: PG-13

Type: Drama

Title: Indoctrination

It was night, the moon was full and the stars were shining brightly. It was a warm summer night with a cool, gentle, breeze. That same breeze lifted the hair of Sakura Kinomoto.

She was sitting at the top of the Penguin slide, her bare legs against the cool plastic. She had a journal on her lap; but, her head was turned up to the stars. She was lost in deep thought.

The journal on Sakura's lap was actually a prayer book. She wrote all of her most troubling prayers in that book. Unfortunately, she had filled many of the recent pages with Syaoran.

Sakura let out a soft sigh as she remembered the prophetic dreams she had had. Very rarely did visions show themselves to Sakura, but when they did, they were always true. That was the most troubling part of all, for she knew, her dreams of Syaoran must be true.

Syaoran had been magically brain washed by the elders. It was only by a cheap trick that they managed to brain wash him in the first place. The elders threatened to remove Syaoran, completely, from his mother and sisters if he didn't obey. He rarely got to see them since he had returned after Void's capture, so he gave in.

The elders put together their ancient magic and brain washed Syaoran. They had been brain washing him for two years. They were teaching him to destroy the Card Mistress and bring the Clow Cards back t Tomoeda.

Soon, very soon, Syaoran would show up in Tomoeda. He would be there to hurt Sakura, but wouldn't have to say or do anything to hurt her. She knew that once she saw him it would tear her apart inside.

They were destined to meet in the park at night. It was what simply what was supposed to happen. Not tonight, but it would happen soon.

Tears dripped down Sakura's face. He didn't even remember ever loving her. It was horrible enough the first time it was supposed to happen, this time would be much worse. She might not be able to get Syaoran back this time. There was only a dim light of hope for the both of them. It was a light Sakura clung to.

Sakura didn't bother to wipe her tears. Even though her tears had affected Syaoran before, they would have none now that he abhorred her. She just let the wind wrap around her and comfort her. Oh how she missed her sweet Syaoran.

Sakura knew that it must have been incredibly lat by then. She summoned Fly and flew home. She glided into her room through her already open window. She gently landed and closed the window.

Kero was softly snoring away in his drawer. Although the guardian beast had some idea of what was going on, he did not yet realize the extremity of the situation. If all went planned, he would not know until everything was over. Sakura wanted to do this alone. She didn't want anyone else to see Syaoran in the state he arrived in.

The tired girl slipped into her bed, not even bothering to change her clothes. The dark blanket of sleep overtook her for the night. Many hundreds of miles away, her loved one was not readying himself for sleep just yet.

O

Syaoran was bowed onto one nee in a dark room. He was at a council with the elders. He was waiting to be assigned his next task. He already knew what it would be. It was his most long awaited task.

"Li Syaoran," the head elder started, "we elders have decided that you are ready to complete your task of destroying the Card Mistress and taking the Clow Cards. Do you accept the task given to you in this time?"

"Yes," Syaoran said, his voice echoing in the cold room.

The head elder stood. "We have been preparing you for this task for two years. Go out and confiscate the Clow Cards. Do not return until you have them this time."

Syaoran stood and bowed to the elders. He turned and left for his room. He would spend the rest of the late night packing. He would leave for Japan tomorrow. He would kill the Card Mistress and take the Clow Cards. When he returned from the task, he would become leader of Li Clan.

O

Sakura sat on the penguin slide for the second night in a row. The weather was identical to the night before. It was a warm night with a cool, gentle, breeze. Sakura, though, was not the same.

Although she sat at the top of the Penguin slide, Sakura was not in the same state. She did not have her prayer book; instead, she held her star wand. She was not gazing at the stars either, her gaze was wide and alert.

Sakura knew that she would meet Syaoran tonight. She prepared herself to expect the worst. She had felt his strong aura arrive in Japan that day. He would not hesitate in coming after her.

A rustling was heard beyond the trees. Sakura gripped her wand tightly. She waited and held her breath as a dark form appeared. The form steadily became clearer as it came nearer. When it stepped out into the moonlight, Sakura caught her breath.

There stood Syaoran.

It was better and worse than Sakura had imagined. He stood there holding his sword pendent in his hand. To a person walking by, he would have looked normal. He was taller and more muscular than before. He was more handsome than before as well, but Sakura did not notice that.

What slowly broke Sakura's heart were his eyes. In them was coldness, hatred, pain, anger, and sadness all combined into a sharp glare that pierced Sakura. Now that he was here, she wasn't sure of what to do. The both of them stayed still, studying each other for a while.

"You are the Card Mistress." Syaoran said.

Sakura flinched at hearing him call her by that name with that voice. "I am she."

"I have come for the Clow Cards." Syaoran said. "I am supposed to kill you, but if you hand the cards over without trouble, I will spare you."

Sakura stared at him. Without saying a word, she slid down the slide and began to walk toward Syaoran.

Syaoran was almost disappointed at how easy this was. "Wise decision, I-"

Syaoran was cut off as Sakura threw her arms around him in a hug. He simply stood there as she hugged him. The move definitely confused him; but, it did not stop him.

"The Clow Cards, are you giving them to me?" He asked.

"I do not have any Clow Cards." Sakura whispered.

Syaoran threw Sakura against a tree. He activated his sword and put his free hand over her throat. He had her pinned and trapped against the tree.

"I will ask you one time. Where are the Clow Cards?" Syaoran growled. He did not waste two years of his life to hear this answer.

"I do not have the Clow Cards." Sakura repeated.

Syaoran, quick as lightning, pushed his sword through Sakura's abdomen, pinning her to the tree.

Sakura gasped, she looked down to see trickles of blood running past Syaoran's sword. She looked up into his eyes and almost died from the hatred in them.

"I can keep you alive as long as I want in order to torture you." Syaoran said. "Tell me where the Clow Cards are, unless of course, you wish for your death to be more painful than it already is."

"T-they're gone." Sakura rasped. Her eyes shut tight.

Syaoran roared. He pulled his sword from Sakura and let her drop to the ground. He deactivated his sword and backed up.

"I'll find those Clow Cards, Card Mistress. I will be able to harness their powers properly."

With that, Syaoran ran away, leaving Sakura to bleed on the ground. As soon as he was gone, Sakura pulled out a pink card and tapped it with her wand.

"Create," she whispered, "make new flesh in my wound."

The card obeyed its master and filled the wound with flesh. Sakura put her hands to her stomach, the wound was completely healed.

Sakura pulled herself upright; her middle was still tender from the sword piercing. She didn't know what made herself hug him. She was willing to try it to bring _her_ Syaoran back. She missed him so much. She was till willing to do anything to get him back.

Sakura barley managed to fly home. When she got there, she put up a weak shield around her house. It would hide her aura and would remain there until the next night.

As soon as Sakura crawled into bed, she fell asleep. The pain of Syaoran and what he did to her was too overwhelming for her mind to handle.

O

It was the next night. Sakura stood at the top of the Penguin Slide. Her wound was still a little sore, but not enough to be bothered by.

Sakura had sent the Illusion Card to get Syaoran. She had commanded the card to take the form of Syaoran's greatest desire, the Clow Cards.

Just then, Syaoran ran into the clearing, following a square shaped object. As soon as he appeared, the object disappeared. This caused Syaoran to yell out in frustration. It was a few moments before Syaoran noticed the girl at the top of the Penguin Slide.

When he saw the Card Mistress standing there, he startled. "How are you still alive? I thought I killed you last night." Syaoran said, temporarily forgetting about his misleading sighting.

"Can the leader of Le Clan not tell the difference between and illusion and the Illusion Card?" Sakura asked, ignoring his question.

"I thought you said that you did not have the Clow Cards?" Syaoran growled. "How did you manage to hide their aura from me?"

"I did not lie." Sakura stated, holding up the pink Illusion Card. "I transformed the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, making them my own. That is why Clow Cards no longer exist."

"So that is how you managed to heal yourself." Syaoran mumbled, and then raised his voice. "It won't happen again Card Mistress; I will take the cards from you _and_ destroy you."

Sakura used the Jump to jump down from the top of the slide. She landed on her feat about six feet from Syaoran.

"May I make a proposition?" Sakura asked.

"Say what you will." Syaoran said. "I will decide if it should happen.

Sakura strode forward a few steps. "The cards will be yours," she stepped closer, "but only if you turn back to the _real _Syaoran."

Syaoran opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Sakura's lips. His eyes widened, this was affecting him much more than her hug. Somehow, her kiss was cutting strait into his heart. He was much more aware of Sakura on him.

Syaoran could feel Sakura's tiny body pressed against his chest. He could feel her lips caressing his. He could feel her hands gripping his shirt.

Syaoran pushed Sakura off of him. He was feeling things inside of himself that were foreign. Why was the Card Mistress doing this?

"Why, Syaoran?" Sakura asked, startling him back to reality. "Why don't you remember me…us? Why do you let hatred fill yourself?"

"I can only feel hatred for you." Syaoran said automatically, activating his sword as well. "Do you really hate me Syaoran, or are you just following the elders' orders?"

Syaoran cried out and attacked Sakura. He pinned her to the ground, trapping his arms to her sides with his legs. He put his sword to her throat, she didn't struggle.

"This time, I _will_ take your cards and you will not heal yourself." But even as Syaoran said this, a part of him knew it was wrong. He couldn't seem to remember why it was wrong though.

Tears leaked out of Sakura's eyes. "May I just say one thing before you kill me?" She whispered.

"What?" Syaoran asked, still trying to grasp the concept inside of him.

Sakura breathed in deeply. "I wanted to tell you when I next saw you, as your normal self. I suppose I shall just tell you now though. Aishiteru Xiaolang."

Syaoran broke.

The memories flooded back, all of them. He remembered everything. All of the emotion pushed up many years worth of pain that fell as tears.

Sakura watched with wide eyes. "S-Syaoran?"

Syaoran closed his eyes. He took his sword away form Sakura's throat and dropped it.

"Please forgive me Sakura." Syaoran said, opening his eyes. "Let me explain what happened. I returned home after you captured the Void Card. The elders were even more displeased with me than before. They stared to train me intensely, keeping me separated form my family most of the time.

"When I turned sixteen, I could still only think of you. They put strong ancient magic together to 'train' me. If I would have refused, they would have completely separated me from my family.

"I accepted the training. For two years, evil, ancient, magic flowed through my veins. Suddenly, everything lost purpose and I didn't care anymore.

"Somehow, my thoughts of love for you turned to hate. Even when I did see my family, it was unimportant and awkward. I was completely taken over."

Sakura brought a hand up to his cheek. "I know what happened to you, I do not blame you for what happened. I forgive you."

Syaoran slowly slid a hand up against Sakura's skin to the place where the wound was. Sakura shivered under his gentle touch.

"You forgive me, even though I…"

"Yes," Sakura whispered, feeling Syaoran's hand tracing her abdomen.

He looked deep into Sakura's eyes. "I love you too Sakura Kinomoto. I will never let the elders control me again. I well take my family away and live here…with you."

Sakura gave a small mile. "It wounds like the most wonderful thing in the world."

Syaoran leaned down against Sakura and gently kissed her. They both stayed that way, knowing that everything would turn out all right.

O

VictorianPearl: I've really wanted to write a very dramatic story line. I hate it when Syaoran is mean as himself, but I love it when a mean Syaoran makes up with Sakura. I used the story line of the elders' brain washing Syaoran so that it wouldn't be his fault. I hoped you all enjoyed it.

Special thanks to Timberwolf, the first reviewer of One-Shot?


	4. Spartan Cheerleaders

VictorianPearl: Here is another attempt at my humor. This is a bit more subtle than my other attempts though x.X I'm sorry that these stories are coming up slow, but here's the third story for you. Does anyone like Saturday Night Live?

Rating: PG

Type: Parody/Humor

Title: Spartan Cheerleaders

Syaoran stood on the sideline of the soccer field. It was currently halftime and he was watching his girlfriend perform with the other cheerleaders. He watched as she was tossed into the air and dropped back down.

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

Syaoran's eyes automatically narrowed. "You had better not be talking about who I _think_ you're talking about Hiirigizawa."

"Do you mean Sakura-chan?" Eriol asked innocently. "Of course not! I mean, she is very attractive, but I was admiring Daidouji-chan."

"You better have been." Syaoran growled.

"Come now Syaoran-kun, are you going to attack every boy that thinks Sakura-chan is beautiful?"

"That's just it Hiirigizawa." Syaoran replied. "People do _think_ Sakura is beautiful. You're the only one stupid enough to _say_ anything in front of me."

"Now, now," Eriol scolded, "I've heard other boys comment on Sakura-chan and you didn't attack them."

"That's because they were telling me how lucky I was to have such a girl. They weren't drooling over her in front of me."

"I said it once and I'll say it again. I was commenting on Daidouji-chan."

Syaoran had difficulty suppressing an agitated sigh. Hiirigizawa _always_ did this. Could he just leave a man in peace and staple his reincarnated mouth shut!"

"You must have to fight off many boys though." Eriol commented. "Just look at those short skirts the girls have to wear."

"That doesn't mean that everyone is staring at Sakura." Syaoran snapped. "The rest of the girls are wearing the same outfit."

"True, true, but some eyes wonder to some places more than others."

"Shut it Hiirigizawa!"

"Whatever you say,"

A thick silence came between Eriol and Syaoran. The crowd broke into cheers as the cheerleaders finished their routine. Syaoran would be glad to get back onto the field. At least he could avoid contact with Hiirigizawa who played goalie.

"She really is beautiful though." Eriol said

Syaoran looked where Eriol's gaze was, that way he would be able to tell if Eriol really _was_ looking at Daidouji. It was difficult to tell who he was looking at though. Sakura was talking to Tomoyo off to the side of the field.

"I hope, for your sake, that you're talking about Daidouji like you said you were." Syaoran threatened.

"Calm down Syaoran." Eriol said. "Don't you think you're a _bit _overprotective? Sometimes, it's that exact quality that causes break-ups-"

Syaoran finally lost it; he swung at Eriol's face. The lucky boy barely managed to dodge the flying fist. He did not; although, dodge Syaoran's tackle, which sent them both rolling onto the field.

Syaoran's second swing hit target on Eriol's nose. Blood spurted everywhere and screams could be heard from the crowd. Yamazaki managed to pull Syaoran off of Eriol before things got worse. He was taken to the coach while Eriol was taken to the locker room for fixing up.

Syaoran reluctantly approached his coach.

The coach shook his head. "Syaoran, I'm not going to be able to let you play for the second half of the game. It can't happen again, understood?"

Syaoran nodded. "Hai, it will not happen again. It's just that, Hiirigizawa-kun always purposely agitates me."

"In that case, tomorrow, you'll _both_ be sent to the office." The coach said.

"Hai," Syaoran replied with a sense of dread.

OOO

Syaoran moodily stalked to the principal's office. Last night and this morning had been far from enjoyable. Sakura had been pretty upset with him last night. She didn't even give him her traditional kiss goodbye. This morning, both she _and_ Tomoyo had scolded him. They didn't even wait to walk with him to second period.

To make matters worse, his second period teacher, who hated him, had quite a time shoving Syaoran's office note in his face. He then retold the events of last night, earning Syaoran tow glares from two girls in front of him (Sakura and Tomoyo).

Syaoran paused in front of the principal's office. He took a drawing breath before opening the door and stepping over into the threshold. The principal was sitting with his hands clasped on his desk. Eriol was already there, occupying one of the two cushiony chairs.

"Please take a seat, Li-kun." The principal said, motioning to the vacant chair.

Syaoran stiffly took a seat in the chair next to Eriol. He tried vainly to block Eriol out of his peripheral vision.

"Now if you would please, tell me exactly what happened last night." The principal commanded.

"It happened at half time." Syaoran started immediately. "Hiirigizawa-kun was purposely making comments about my girlfriend that he _knew_ would make me angry."

"Is this true Hiirigizawa-kun?" The principal asked.

"Yes, to an extent." Eriol replied coolly.

The principal frowned. "I'm sorry you two, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you detention."

Syaoran relapsed into a paralyzed shock. He would have a detention on his Windex-clean record! He could not afford something like that.

"Isn't there an alternative solution?" Syaoran asked desperately.

The principal's frown faded a little. "I suppose there is one thing you two could do in stead of detention."

"We'll do it!" Syaoran cried, ready to do just about anything other than detention.

"Alright," The principal replied. "There is a Sparta-themed rally coming up on Friday. We need a couple of students to be mascots and cheer for a few of the clubs and pose for pictures. Because there have been no volunteers, you two can do it."

"What kind of mascots?" Eriol asked.

"Spartan-themed mascots," The principal replied.

"The rally is next week. I'll arrange for you to meet with Mihara-chan at lunch. She will instruct you on how your performance should be."

As Syaoran listened, he vaguely wondered if detention would have been the better choice.

OOO

"These outfits aren't Spartan-themed!"

"Really? I didn't notice. What else have you figured out?"

"Don't get mad at me, _you're _the one that didn't want to sit quietly in the office for one hour."

"Excuse me, but there will be absolutely no reason for any college to not accept me based on any permanent record!"

"One detention wouldn't have done anything!"

Syaoran and Eriol were currently arguing on the track. All of the club booths were set up and Syaoran and Eriol were waiting to take their turn performing for a few of the clubs. They were each standing ridiculously in white cheerleading outfits with a large, red, S on the front.

"We're not even mascots!" Eriol exclaimed. "The principal is doing this because he's bored. Look at him! He's laughing at us!"

"We're up." Syaoran said dryly.

"Syaoran, could you do me a favor and stick me with your sword?" Eriol asked hopefully.

"No way in Hades am I doing this alone! If I'm going down, I'm dragging you down with me." Syaoran snapped, dragging Eriol out with him to the middle of the track.

As soon as Eriol and Syaoran took their positions spaced out on the field, the crowd grew more silent. Everyone eagerly waited what was going to happen.

Syaoran whispered under his breath. "One…two…one, two, three, four!"

"CHESS CLUB, CHESS CLUB, YOU'RE THE BEST! YOU BEAT THEM, BEAT THEM, ALL THE REST! C-H-E-S-S, CHESS!" Syaoran and Eriol yelled, taking turns doing cartwheels across the field.

The whole of Seijou High was clutching their stomachs they were laughing so hard.

"ROCKET CLUB, YOUR'RE GOAL'S TO GET TO THE MOON, YOU'RE SO HOT THAT I COULD SWOON! ONE-TWO-THREE-BLAST OFF!"

Syaoran ran and jumped onto Eriol's shoulders. Eriol unfortunately, lost his footing, sending both of the sophomore boys tumbling to the ground.

"Are we done yet?" A mangled Eriol asked form the ground.

"We've got one more." Syaoran replied grudgingly.

"SNAPS, PHOTO-SHOOTING CLUB, SHOOT MY PICTURE WITH A SNAP! AND FOR THAT, I WILL CLAP, SNAPS!

With the last cheer, the high school burst into applause. Eriol, enjoying the attention, took a bow. Syaoran stood, giving the crowd a stone face.

The principal walked out onto the track with a microphone. "Thank you Li-kun, Hiirigizawa-kun, that was very entertaining. ("I knew it!") Speaking of Snaps, if you would like a picture with one of our Spartan Cheerleaders, please go to the gym. You are dismissed."

Most of the school immediately crowded over to the gym. There were two separate lines. One was for picture taking with Syaoran, and the other was for picture taking with Eriol. One of the first people to take a picture with Syaoran was Sakura.

The pretty girl skipped up to pose next to Syaoran. "Okay Syao-kun, I forgive you for punching Eriol-kun." She said.

The picture snapped just as Sakura was giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. Syaoran had a lopsided smile on his face. He watched as his girlfriend skipped out of the way for the next person in line. Maybe this hadn't been so horrible after all.

OOO


	5. Cruise Along Compassion

VictorianPearl: I know, I know, I haven't updated in forever. You don't have to say anything.

Li: I'll hold you to that.

VictorianPearl: It's just that I've been so busy with school and…

Li: coughboyscough

VictorianPearl: What?

Li: Nothing.

Rating: PG-13

Type: Drama

Title: Cruise Along Compassion

It is amazing how everything and any situation, no matter how bad, can get worse. She thought that she had been through everything that the evil this world could give, but it never seemed to cease.

Right now, she just needed to find a place where she could be alone. She needed a few minutes to have some space and just think without another human face.

As she was walking to find such a place, she saw something glittery within her peripheral vision. She turned slightly to see a small stand. She was going to keep walking when a concessionaire called to her.

"Hello miss, would you like to take a look at our sea jewelry?" The concessionaire asked politely.

She paused, considering the option. It was funny that a stand would be outside on a cruise ship. For a moment, her thoughts stopped and all that was there was the warm night sky. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to look.

She walked over to the stand to look at the items. They were indeed very beautiful.

"Might I ask you name?" The concessionaire asked.

She looked at the concessionaire, really seeing her for the first time. She was a small young woman with short auburn hair and green eyes. She smiled sweetly, waiting for an answer.

"My name is Tomoyo."

"What a lovely name." The concessionaire commented. "If I may comment, this is the best piece of jewelry for you." She pointed to a choker made of one strand of pearls; in the middle of it was a silver starfish.

"I like that one." Tomoyo said, eyeing the piece.

The concessionaire smiled. "I thought that you might. Would you like to try it on?"

Tomoyo simply nodded, moving around the counter and into the booth. The concessionaire hooked the choker around Tomoyo's neck and let her see how she looked in the full bodied mirror.

Tomoyo wearily gazed at herself. She had her long hair tied back into a pony tail, adorned with a white, fluffy bow. She was wearing a light blue and white striped t-shirt. She had a navy blue skirt on, showing off her creamy legs. On her feet was a simple pair of white sandals. Despite her desire to be alone, she couldn't help but admire the pearl choker.

"How much is it?" Tomoyo asked, tracing her fingers along the pearls.

"Thirty-two dollars," the concessionaire replied.

"I'll take it." Tomoyo said, opening her small, white, purse.

Tomoyo paid for the accessory and started to leave.

"Have a nice night." The concessionaire called.

Tomoyo looked over her shoulder and nodded at the young woman. She then continued to walk along to the side of the ship. There was an empty walkway. There were rooms on the right and the railing on the left. It was completely deserted, just how Tomoyo wanted it.

She walked a few feat before deciding to lean against the railing. The air was warm but the wind was crisp. She stared down into the deep blue watery depths. It was amazing; so much happened underneath the surface, she couldn't even begin to fathom any of it. It was almost impossible to see what was going on below the surface by simply looking at it. This was also very true with herself.

Tomoyo sighted and leaned into the railing. So much bad had happened. Although this trip was supposed to make her forget all of that, as her mother had said, it was not quite working.

She blinked the tears back. She would not cry over this again; she was better than that.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked.

Tomoyo startled. She gripped the railing and looked up at who was speaking to her. It was one of the mates of the ship. He had navy blue hair under his sailor hat that matched his navy blue and white uniform. He had sea blue eyes behind a pair of wire rimmed glasses.

"I'm fine; you just startled me is all." Tomoyo said, looking at the man with wide eyes. _Where did he come from? It was so quiet that I should have noticed him._

"I'm sorry about that." The man said, smiling. "You just looked so sad right now."

Tomoyo bowed her head. "I was just thinking about why I'm even here in the first place."

The man nodded his heard. "You know, I'm studying to be a psychiatrist, I could help by listening to your story if you want. By the way, the name's Eriol." He outstretched a gloved hand. Tomoyo took it.

"My name's Tomoyo. My tale…" Did she really want to tell a total stranger a history that she wouldn't even wholly tell her own mother?

_You need to bring out the problem into the open space. _Her mother's voice re-echoed in her head. She might as well. For one thing, she wouldn't have to see or deal with him after the trip was over. She could finally get her problems off of her chest and not have to worry about what the listener was thinking.

"I won't tell a soul anything you've said." Eriol said, startling Tomoyo out of her stupor. "What you say is your own business, it's completely confidential."

Tomoyo nodded. Yes, she supposed it was finally time to reveal her burden to another soul. If she did not, she might be crushed under its weight.

"It all started two years ago, my senior year of high school. I had finally started to date, you know how that goes." Tomoyo looked up at Eriol. He nodded to show that he understood.

"Everything went wonderfully; we hit it off right away and had a great relationship. Senior year breezed by and it was soon time to go to college."

"Let me guess." Eriol said, a sympathetic smile on his face. "That was where your problems began."

Tomoyo nodded at him before returning her gaze to the ocean. "We wanted to go to separate colleges. IT didn't seem like a problem at the time, the college he was to attend was only in the next town. We had our schedules set up to see each other every weekend, it seemed full proof.

"It turns out though that he had a history." Tomoyo sighed with the memory. "This is where this tale of mine turns ill. You see, he had been involved in some organization when he was very young. Because he joined the organization, and simply by that, it was ipso facto."

"Was that all that made him a criminal." Eriol asked, leaning with his hip against the railing, studying Tomoyo.

Tomoyo's gaze at the water went cold. "No, he got back into it all, started to do bad things. As he fell back into it, his grades started to drop. That's when I found out. He had always gotten good grades in high school, anything lower than a B was uncharacteristic for him. But that wasn't all, it got worse." She began to choke up a little.

Eriol's gaze was melancholy and concerned. "He didn't hurt you did he?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a friendly gesture.

Tomoyo breathed in deeply, trying to gain control over her emotions. Through all of her sadness, she was glad that she was finally getting rid of all this pain. It was like cleaning out a dirty wound. It hurt, but it had to be done.

"He did hurt me, physically." Tomoyo said as tears dropped from her eyes into the ocean. "When I saw that he was not trying to get out of all the troubles, I tried to break our relationship off. He tried to keep me with him. He hurt me, trying to break my spirit so that I would loose hope.

"Eventually, after he hurt me, I called the authorities. We went to trial and he was accused guilty for his crimes and sent to jail."

"You don't feel guilty for what happened, do you?" Eriol asked.

Tomoyo shook her head. "It was his own fault for what he did. He was the one making the bad decisions, not I."

Eriol sighed. "I'm glad to hear that. A lot of people take the blame for another's actions. I'm relieved to hear that that is not the case with you."

Tomoyo nodded. Her tears had stopped falling and she felt strangely relieved. Who would have thought that mother was right to tell her to go on this trip?

"Look," Eriol started. "I know that I shouldn't get involved with 'clients' and I don't know how you'll feel about this, but…"

Tomoyo looked at him expectantly.

"Would you like to accompany me to the dinner tomorrow night?"

Tomoyo felt her heart speed up. Originally, she wasn't planning on going, but now…

"I'll understand if you don't want to but-"

"Yes,"

Now it was Eriol's turn to have his heart speed up. "Could I pick you up at seven o'clock?"

"That would be lovely."

A silence formed between them. The only sounds were the lapping of the water against the boat and the cool, gentle breeze blowing Tomoyo's hair.

Eriol was the one to speak first. "Would you mind if I walked you back to your room?"

"Not at all," Tomoyo replied, smiling.

A little shiver went through her as she went to take his arm. It was time to forget what had happened in the past and start anew.

And with that, Tomoyo took her first steps toward a new life.

OOO

It was nearing seven o'clock as Tomoyo took one final glance at herself in the mirror. She had on a silky, black dress which came right above her knees. She wore her hair down her back with the choker she had bought the day before to adorn her nick.

There was a gentle tapping sound on her door. Tomoyo quickly walked over to the door and opened it. There stood Eriol, clad in a navy suit with a navy blue tie to match. His mouth opened slightly at the sight of Tomoyo.

Tomoyo cast her head down a little, blushing furiously. Eriol shook his head to regain what sense he had lost.

"Is the sea maiden ready to attend the dance?" Eriol asked, extending his arm.

Tomoyo smiled and took his arm. "She is."

With that, Eriol lead Tomoyo to a littering dance hall. Tomoyo breathed in at the sight of it. It was an aquamarine color, sparkling like water. The string instruments were sweetly playing and everyone was dancing a dance upon the sea.

"It's beautiful." Tomoyo whispered, her hands clasping at her chest.

"I know." Eriol whispered, gazing down at her.

It took Tomoyo a minute to realize that Eriol was speaking about herself. She met his gaze and gave him a shy smile.

"Let's find a table." Eriol said, leading Tomoyo to a table near the edge of the dance floor. He held a chair out for her and she gracefully sat down. "I'll be back in a moment." And with that, he disappeared into the dancing water of people.

Tomoyo sat for a moment, watching the dancing figures. All of the ladies' dresses were glittering like the ocean in the sunlight. Across the dance hall, Tomoyo saw Eriol making his way to the middle of the gleaming stage. Tomoyo wondered what in the world he was doing.

Eriol picked up one of the microphones. The musicians stopped playing for a moment, letting the navy haired man speak.

"Hello," Eriol said into the microphone. "I would like to dedicate the next song to a lovely maiden that I only just met last night."

The whole dance hall was quiet, listening to Eriol.

"I was also wondering if the maiden should like to join me in dance." Eriol said, his eyes on Tomoyo.

Tomoyo, who was very surprised, only nodded. She watched Eriol smile, set down the microphone, and make his way off of the stage.

Tomoyo stood up, searching for him in the crowd. Her heart was pounding with anticipation. Her heart rate doubled when she saw him walking through the crowd. Could it be possible that she had fallen in love in only twenty-four hours?

As soon as Eriol's hand grabbed hers, it became as if Tomoyo was dancing in a dream. The way they glided across the floor, it couldn't have been humanly…could it?

"Tomoyo," Eriol said, pulling Tomoyo close to himself. Tomoyo stepped closer as well. "I know that we've barley known each other for a day, but I can't tell you how much better I want to get to know you."

Tomoyo's violet eyes were glued to Eriol's sea blue ones. "I want to get to know you better too Eriol. I don't want to walk away from this cruise and never see you again."

"I'm so glad." Eriol murmured, wrapping is arms tightly around Tomoyo. "I'm so glad."

The moon in the sky was bright and full as the ship glided through the water to another lifetime.

OOO

VictorianPearl: Was it worth the wait? Okay, it was an extremely long wait, but I hope you liked it anyway.


	6. Kaput Kero

VictorianPearl: They're coming up slow, but the point is that they're coming up.

Syaoran: So I take it I'll be starring in this one-shot, ne?

VictorianPearl: Actually, this one-shot has our favorite sweet-loving bear/lion/thingy as the star.

Syaoran: What! The stuffed animal gets to star in this one?

VictorianPearl: You bet, enjoy!

Rating: Pg-13

Type: Humor

Title: Kaput Kero

"But Sakura, I don't want to!"

"Mou, Kero, you've beat _The Legend of Zelda_ three times in a row. It would do you some good to get out and put some new knowledge in your head."

"But Sakura-!"

"No buts, you're going to come with me to school and that's that!"

Kero crossed his arms and pouted. What did _she_ care about if he was playing games or not? He was the Sun Guardian of the Seal for Clow's sake! He was already extremely knowledgeable, but he had to do as Sakura said. She _was_ mistress after all.

Kero felt himself being thrown into Sakura's book bag. He didn't see how "getting out" would do him any good since he had to remain in her book bag.

Soon, Kero could hear Sakura's feat thumping down the stairs. He was set down on the ground with the book bag as Sakura put on her roller blades. He then began to be thrashed around the book bag as Sakura set out for school.

Kero wasn't sure how much of his head being banged against books he could take. Just then, Sakura slowed down. He only felt relieved for a few moments before he felt very angry.

"Hello Sakura,"

The gaki was here! He actually went out of his way to walk Sakura to school, as if she _needed_ protection. Kero grumbled the rest of the way to school. At least once they got to school he would be able to take naps during class. That thought was squashed with Kero as he painfully got squeezed in between two of Sakura's books. The pain intensified as Sakura dropped her book bag onto the hard tile.

Kero managed to free himself from between the books as Sakura pulled out her binder. He lay panting on top of the books. He wasn't gaining knowledge, he was gaining survival techniques!

"At least I can get some sleep now." Kero muttered to himself.

Sleep overcame the fuzzy beast as the teacher's monotone voice droned on. He had the best dream ever; he was chasing a fat cake around Sakura's room. He almost caught it in his paws when an annoying ringing sound woke him up. It took a few moments for him to remember that he was in Sakura's book bag.

The cover of the book bag opened as Sakura dropped her binder back into it, directly on Kero's tail. His cry was muffled as he fell between two books and the air was squished out of him. Who knew that school was so painful?

After three more painful periods, lunch finally arrived. Kero had never been so happy to see food in his lifetime. It was almost like heaven coming down when Sakura put his lunch down to rest on the tops of her books.

The sounds of Sakura and her other four friends giggling was the sound that Kero fell asleep to. He, unfortunately, would not hear the next few conversations held.

"Ah, I almost forgot!" Sakura exclaimed. "I need to go and give Syaoran his shirt that he left at my house. Will you come with me Tomoyo?"

"Of course," Tomoyo said, smiling oddly.

"He _left_ his shirt at you house?" Chiharu asked disbelievingly.

"Umm-well, you see…"

"What exactly were you doing?" Naoko asked slyly.

"Nothing, we didn't do anything!"

"Sure," Chiharu said, "that's why you're returning his shirt, hi just randomly took it off and left it at your house."

"We all know that Li-kun does his own laundry." Rika supplied.

Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's arm and walked off while shouting back, "It' was nothing!"

The three girls all giggled. They now had some serious blackmail on Sakura-chan and Li-kun.

"You don't thing that they really…you know, do you?" Rika asked.

"No way," Chiharu remarked, "I wouldn't be surprised if Sakura didn't even know what _it_ is."

"Yeah," Naoko agreed, "she's so innocent that she still carries that stuffed animal around." She pointed to Sakura's half open book bag where Kero could be seen.

"She _still_ has that?" Rika asked, almost believing that her eyes were lying.

"Who agrees with me that Sakura needs to take the next step to growing up?" Chiharu asked.

Both Naoko and Rika raised their hands.

"Alright, I say we toss the thing."

Naoko gaped. "I agree that the animal is too 'little kid', but is it really necessary to throw it away?"

Chiharu suppressed a groan. "We all know that Sakura will be able to lead a normal life and have a successful career without that fuzzy bear. It's not going to hurt her."

Rika looked between the bear and Chiharu. "I agree with you, but I think that you should be the one to throw it away."

"I'm with Rika." Naoko said hastily.

"Fine," Chiharu said, reaching in Sakura's book bag and grabbing Kero, "say goodbye fuzzy bear!" With that, Kero was chucked into the garbage can.

Chiharu brushed her hands together on her job well done. She was about to sit down when she saw Takashi approaching her.

"Hello Chiharu-chan dear," Takashi greeted, "Sakura-chan came over to give Li-kun his shirt and it reminded me…" He pulled out an object with a tag that had words that suspiciously flashed Victoria's Secret.

Chiharu grabbed wildly at the item, trying to hide it from view. "Why did you bring it to _school_?" She seethed.

Takashi just kept smiling. "I figured that you'd want it as soon as possible. You'll e coming to my house after school again right?"

Rika and Naoko gaped at what they heard. Nobody noticed a custodian coming by and dumping the garbage can with Kero in it.

Kero shifted in his sleep. That's odd; it didn't _feel_ like he was still on Sakura's books, maybe he was back at home. With this thought in mind, Kero stretched, he would go and get some food.

Kero opened his eyes and was dumbstruck. He was _not_ at home. He was in a place way more gross and smelly to be home. He flew upward and through a small opening of the place he was in. When he emerged into the light and fresh air, he found that he had no idea as to where he was.

"Oh boy, how in Clow's name did I get here?" Kero asked to nobody in particular.

He was trying to think. He had eaten his lunch and then he decided to take a nap. When he woke up, he was in this dumpster behind a large building. Was this whole "day at school" just a plan to get rid of him? No, it couldn't be, Sakura liked him _way_ too much to do that. He must have somehow fallen out of her book bag while she was asleep. Yeah, that must have been what happened.

Kero flew to the cover of some trees a distance away. It didn't look as if there was anyone there, but you could never be too safe. He reached the tree and flew up into the highest branches to get a good look around.

Kero looked strait, left, right, behind…but this was a place he had never been before. He didn't even know that a place like this _existed_ in Tomoeda, although he was quite sure that he was still in Tomoeda. He could very faintly feel Sakura's aura. She was a ways away, but not too far away too act apprehensively.

Well, the only thing to do was to go in the direction that Sakura's aura was coming from. That shouldn't be too hard, should it?

He had no idea.

"Mommy, I want a stuffed animal!"

"No Kiki, I told you already, not today."

"But mommy-!"

"No buts, we're not going to get a stuffed animal and that's that!"

Kero wondered why this conversation was sounding vaguely familiar. That was right; he had just had this conversation this morning. It was only a few hours ago, it felt like much longer than that.

Kero was acting his stuffed animal impression at the bottom of a tree. He had been flying low to the ground when this mother and her little girl rounded the corner. He barely made it to the cover of these weeds that he was in. He was waiting for them to pass, then he would be on his way.

The pair was walking right by Kero when the mother's cell phone rang.

"Just a second darling," the mother told her little girl.

As the mother stopped to chat with whoever was on the other side of the line, the little girl went running about the trees. Kero was trying to edge around the tree when he was spotted.

"Oh, lookie, a stuffed animal for Kiki to play with!" The little girl squealed.

"Apparently she talks in third person." Kero thought dryly as he was picked up in a death grip by the little girl.

Kero felt himself being twirled around in circles and tossed up into the air. Every couple of tosses, she would miss catching him and he would painfully come in contact with the earth. He had to suppress a groan, how would he ever get out of this?

"Eek, Kiki, what it that thing?" The mother shrieked, looking at Kero like he was a disease infested object.

"It's a stuffed animal for Kiki!" The little girl replied, giving Kero a good squeeze.

"NO Kiki," the mother yelled, knocking Kero out of the little girl's hands into the sewer drain where he disappeared.

"MOMMY, YOU KILLED KIKI'S ANIMAL STUFFY!" Kiki screamed, making a dive for the sewer drain.

The mother caught Kiki up by the wrist. "No, Kiki, that thing could have been infested with _rabies_. You don't know where it's been."

The sounds of the little girl being dragged off, kicking and screaming, were vaguely audible from inside the sewer. Kero was there, covered in slime. It was bad enough that he had even been _in_ a garbage can. But now he was completely covered in some type of foreign substance that could not be hygienic.

Kero looked down the sewer tunnel. It seemed to be going in the direction that Sakura's aura was coming from. At least he could fly down her without having to worry about being seen. So with that, he flew off down the sewer. He had never been to such a place before. He had seen the Ninja Turtles, sure, but this sewer was much different than the sewer in that show.

Eventually, there was another drain which Kero flew up through. As soon as he flew up though, he wished he hadn't. He came up, face to face with a vicious looking dog. Kero gulped as the dog growled. It only took one sniff on the dog's part and it was chasing after Kero like mad.

Kero gave a scream and shot off. He wished he could have transformed, but he couldn't risk being seen by anyone. Then again, he did need his life, it was very important to him. He was going to transform when he saw something that changed his mind. At the end of the street he was flying down there was a car wash. He could fly through it, get clean, and loose the dog, all at once!

In a flash of gold light, Kero sped right into the entrance. Nobody even noticed him because they were so focused on the dog that was running strait toward them. Kero felt good at first, being in the cold water, but soon, he felt soap being sprayed into his eyes. He was then caught in one of the spinning sponges, sending him flying strait into the wall.

Once Kero managed to pass all of the dangerous spinning sponges and brushes, he gratefully flew through the rinse and then into the heating area. It was warm and fuzzy and felt really nice, until he caught his reflection in one of the big metal vents. It looked as if he had been stuck in the dryer. His fur was completely spoofed out, making it look like he was a large, golden, dust bunny.

Kero didn't even know where he went flying to next. He was too busy trying to smooth out his fur. He kept licking his paws and smoothing, then repeating the whole process all over again. When he had time to look up, he couldn't believe where he had managed to end up. He was right in front of the high school, oh happy day! Even better, it didn't look as if school had gotten out yet.

Kero flew over to the football field. He knew that Sakura had cheerleading last, if he judged his timing right, it should have been sixth period right about then. He looked over into the foot ball field to see all of the cheerleaders on the field. Oh happy day, he was so relieved he could hardly do anything else but stare down on the field.

Gaining his wits, Kero flew down to the empty locker rooms. He managed to squeeze himself (painfully) through the vent of Sakura's locker and into her book bag. When he got there he collapsed out of pure relief and exhaustion. When the bell rang and Kero felt himself being taken home, he almost cried. He had never thought he would have enjoyed being thrown around Sakura's book bag, and he certainly never thought he would be happy to hear the gaki's voice.

When they finally got home and Sakura opened the top of her book bag, Kero wearily flew out and collapsed on his bead. He would take an extremely long nap and then he would enjoy a large cake.

"See Kero, school wasn't so bad was it?" Sakura asked.

Kero ignored her; he had to refrain from throwing great magic fire balls at his mistress.

OOO

VictorianPearl: And there it is, I'm already working on the next one-shot. It's going to be awesome.

Sakura: Do you want to give plugs?

VictorianPearl: Sorry sweety, no plugs for one-shots. But I _will_ tell you that the first chapter of my new AU fiction will be posted in a couple of days.

Sakura: Until then, ja ne!


	7. A Day of Mega Fun

VictorianPearl: Another shot for OneShot? Disclaimers are obvious and comments are at the end of the chapter.

Rating: PG

Type: General/Crossover

Warnings: It might be a little confusing if you are unfamiliar with the anime I am choosing to cross over with.

Title: A Day of Mega Fun

Teaser: Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was completely clear. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and not too cold. Syaoran had been waiting for this day for a long time. He was going to take Sakura on a much needed date…alone. There would be no Kero, no onii-chan, no Daidouji-chan, just he and Sakura.

Syaoran took a deep breath of air and headed over to Sakura's. He had a light feeling in his chest that made him feel as if nothing could possibly go wrong. When he finally got to Sakura's house, he even smiled and waved at Touya. Touya, on his motorcycle, revved the engine. He looked as if he was tempted to run Syaoran over, but thought the better of it.

"Have fun at Yukito's!" Syaoran called as the motorcycle sped out of the driveway.

Syaoran smirked at the retreating black figure, extremely pleased to be rid of it. He turned back toward the house and bounced up the steps. He gave three hearty knocks on the door before stepping back and patiently waiting for his girlfriend to answer. The sight of his girlfriend opening the door and smiling at him made him grin widely.

"Someone's happy." Sakura commented, smiling brightly herself.

"You bet," Syaoran said cheerfully, holding out his hand, "we are going to have the _best_ time."

Sakura giggled. "You sounded like that on our first date. Are you sure you're sixteen?"

Syaoran nodded and pulled Sakura out of her house, closing the front door for her.

"You're quite the gentleman." Sakura said.

"Of course," Syaoran cheered, "always for you. Come on, we'll take a route through the park."

The couple was cutting through the park on their way to their destination. Syaoran had to contain his happiness. In about three minutes, he and Sakura would be at the carnival and starting their perfect date. By the time they got there, it would be 10:00am, and they would have all day to do whatever _they_ wanted.

The couple entered a clearing past the park. They were about halfway through the clearing when something happened that caused Syaoran to stop dead in his track. In front of himself and Sakura, two people materialized out of thin air.

Somehow, in the back of Syaoran's mind, he knew that the perfect day he had been planning had been completely intercepted. Syaoran sighed deeply. _Perhaps tomorrow…_

The tow people who materialized were a boy and a girl about the same age as Sakura and Syaoran. The boy had brown hair and eyes, like Syaoran, and was wearing a blue headband in his hair. His clothing consisted of black shorts and a long white sleeved shirt with an orange vest.

The girl next to the boy was like nothing that Syaoran had ever seen. She had hair a deep shade of pink with a pink and yellow hair clip. She was wearing a pink skirt, black socks that came above her knees, and a long sleeved, dark blue shirt with a dark blue vest over it. Unlike Sakura's green eyes, this girl's eyes were brown.

"Aww man, we didn't stay cross fused." The boy complained.

"Well, captain obvious, dimensional areas won't be here yet, will they?" The girl asked rhetorically.

"They might have been here." The boy replied dejectedly.

"Yes, they might have been, but it's not like Hiro to act quickly. He likes to drag everything out." The girl replied.

"I suppose you're right." The boy murmured.

"Umm…excuse me, but who are you?" Sakura asked.

The boy and girl immediately brought their attention to Sakura and Syaoran, looking back and forth between them. It was the girl who spoke first.

"I thought you said we were being transported to a _deserted_ area."

The boy scratched the back of his head. "I thought we were." He gave a chuckle. "Oh well, no matter, it'll be fine. Oh yeah, for your question, lady," He looked at Sakura, "I'm Lan Hikari, a net saver, and _she_ is my girlfriend, Maylu Sakurai."

Lan put an arm around the girl Maylu, looking very happy about the latter. The girl Maylu smiled nervously and blushed in her boyfriend's arms.

"It must be a recent development." Syaoran said dryly, referring to Lan and Maylu being a couple.

"How'd you guess?" Lan asked cheerfully, oblivious to Syaoran's dry manner.

'_Wow, he's actually denser than Syaoran.' _A naïve Sakura thought.

"We're really sorry to have bothered you." Maylu said, still in her boyfriend's arms. "We'll be able to figure everything out. Just don't tell anyone that we're here."

"Nonsense," Sakura said, "I have no clue as to what you're doing, but I am definitely going to help you. You're obviously not from here and I won't let you wonder the day aimlessly with no clue as to where you're going!"

Any last hopes that the day could have worked out were smashed. A familiar thought of tomorrow floated across Syaoran's mind.

"Thank you so much!" Maylu cried, breaking out of her boyfriend's grasp to run forward and give Sakura a hug.

Sakura laughed. "It's no problem, and don't worry, people materializing out of thin air here isn't as odd as it should be."

"I have an idea." Lan piped. "Why don't Maylu and I explain everything to you over brunch?"

"Do you _ever_ think of anything beside food?" Maylu asked exasperatedly, breaking from her hug with Sakura.

"You wouldn't happen to be supporting another person within you, would you?" Syaoran asked Lan.

"What? Do you think I'm pregnant?" Lan asked, looking stricken.

Syaoran's eyes doubled in size. "N-no, that's not it; it's not what I meant."

"Lan with a kid? I'm not sure if I should feel worried or happy." A different voice said from seemingly nowhere.

"Good one Megaman." A higher voice complimented the first voice.

Sakura and Syaoran looked around the clearing for the other two voices. They had very confused looks upon their faces.

"I think we've got a _lot_ of explaining to do." Lan said, smiling apologetically. "I don't think we got your names…"

"Syaoran," Syaoran said, "and this is my girlfriend Sakura."

"Syaoran and Sakura eh? Alright then, off to brunch!

"So let me get this straight," Sakura started, "you two are from Den Tech City. In this city, everyone has a navi, which is like a computer person, which you use in battles. Lan is a net saver, which means that you keep the net safe from evil navis.

"You can also fuse with your navis, Roll and Megaman, in dimensional areas. These areas randomly come up sometimes, forcing you to battle evil navis."

"That's right," Lan said from behind his empty plates, "and I think I get the whole two people in one body thing with Yukito and Yue."

"Ya, except _you_ eat all of the time and there is only one of you." Maylu replied giggling.

"Okay, I get what you're doing," Syaoran said, "but why are you _here_?"

Lan and Maylu exchanged a sad look between themselves before staring at their hands.

"There has been an evil man terrorizing Sci Lab, a place where net research takes place, for weeks." Maylu began. "The man, Hiro, has been secretly getting aniline into other strong Net OP's food and drink. The stuff obviously isn't meant to be eaten and has been rendering everyone sick and unable to do anything."

Lan nodded sadly from beside Maylu and took his girlfriend's hand in his own. "I'm still not sure how _I _was able to miss him though. I would have thought that I would have been the first one down."

"Especially considering both of our reputations," Megaman said from his PET.

"Megaman and Lan are the best that there are." Maylu whispered. "Many things that were meant for him were accidentally intercepted by many of our friends." Maylu lowered her head even more. "We usually travel together. Obviously nobody was able to recover and come with us."

Tears were welling up in Maylu's eyes. Syaoran and Sakura looked at each other, nodding.

"Don't cry Maylu." Maylu's navi Roll said sadly.

"I'm sorry Roll."

"It's okay, don't be sorry."

Syaoran took a deep breath. These two in front of him obviously needed all of the help they could get. It was time to let go of the thoughts for the date.

"Why don't we go over to my apartment?" Syaoran proposed. "This is obviously still emotionally fresh in your minds."

Lan looked up and gave a weak smile. "Ya, that'd be nice,"

Maylu nodded but said nothing. She allowed Sakura to come around and help her get out of her chair. The two girls walked out of the restaurant, Sakura's arm around Maylu's shoulders.

Syaoran stood along with Lan. He saw the other boy sadly watching his girlfriend.

"Don't worry," Syaoran said, startling Lan.

"What?" Lan asked, looking at Syaoran.

"Your girlfriend will be fine. Sakura's really good at making people feel better."

"Oh," Lan blinked, surprised to be getting a kind word from such a quiet guy, "thanks Syaoran, this means a lot."

Syaoran shook his head. "It's nothing. Come on; let's catch up with the girls."

Lan nodded in agreement and followed Syaoran outside.

In about five minute's time, the four teenagers reached Syaoran's apartment. Syaoran reached for his keys and began to unlock the door.

"Syaoran lives here by himself." Sakura explained. "He's from the Li clan in China."

Syaoran unlocked the door and held it open. Sakura walked in first, Lan behind her. Before Lan could enter though, Syaoran put out an arm to stop him.

Lan looked up into the Chinese boy's face, confused. He then seemed to realize that Maylu was no longer next to him. He turned around to see her staring up at the doorway.

"It's like…Yai's tree house." Maylu whispered.

And with that, Maylu burst into tears.

Lan ran back to his girlfriend, who clung to her boyfriend's chest. He held Maylu tightly while trying to move her into the apartment.

"Yai…sh-she's so sick. Everyone's so sick." Maylu cried.

"I know Maylu; it's going to be okay. We're going to make everything better."

Lan managed to maneuver Maylu to Syaoran's couch. Syaoran went to go and get drinks while Sakura backed off, giving the couple some space.

"Maylu? Are you okay, Maylu?" Roll call from her PET.

"Listen Maylu," Lan started, "I'm going to jack Megaman and Roll into Syaoran's computer…if he has one. I'll be right back, okay?"

Maylu nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. Lan bent down to kiss her on the cheek before getting up.

"Right here," Sakura said, turning on the computer. It was only a few feet away from the couch.

Lan pushed a button on both his and Maylu's PETs, which to Sakura, looked like large cell phones. In a shot of red light to the computer, a navi in pink and a navi in blue appeared on the monitor.

"Maylu, please be alright." Roll, the navi in pink said, walking to the front of the screen.

The navi in blue, Megaman, came forward to put his hands on Roll's shoulders. She looked forlornly in Maylu's direction.

Lan was back at Maylu's side. Sakura walked up and handed her a box of tissues. Maylu took them thankfully.

"I'm sorry. You must think that I'm stupid for crying like this."

Sakura shook her head. "No, not at all, it's only natural to cry. You can't hold it in forever."

Syaoran set down the drinks on the coffee table in front of the couch. He and Sakura sat in squashy chairs across from Lan and Maylu.

Lan took a deep breath, preparing to continue his explanation. "Hiro came here for escape. He stole some important disks with tons of information. Sci Lab has been studying this information for months. We're still not sure what it all means, but we know it's important."

Maylu leaned into Lan's chest. He wrapped his arms around her before continuing. "Hiro used his navi, Bat Man, to break into Sci Lab and steal the information. The stealing took place about two weeks ago. He's been poisoning Net OPs, people who own navis, ever since.

"Maylu and I were able to find him today. We were battling in a dimensional area, an area that allows us to become our navis…sort of. Hiro used Bat Man to activate this weird computer that allowed him to transport here. We were able to use it and transport ourselves here too. Now we must stop Hiro and get that information back."

Sakura nodded. "Do you have any clue as to where Hiro might be?"

Lan thought for a second. "Actually, I don't have a clue."

Both Sakura and Syaoran started coughing on their drinks.

_'It's good to know that he's prepared.'_ Syaoran thought sarcastically.

"Do you have any clue as to why he would come here to Tomoeda?" Sakura asked. "Why would he have to come _here_? There must be something here that could help him."

"Yeah," Lan agreed, "we figured that. We don't know what's here that's not already in Den Tech City though. No offense or anything, but your technology is a little behind the times."

"Maybe he doesn't need technology, per se, Lan." Megaman said from the computer.

Syaoran nodded. "Now we must ask ourselves what is needed that couldn't be found or done in Den Tech City, to use the stolen information."

Before anything more could be said, a loud beeping noise started coming from Syaoran's computer.

"Viruses!" Roll cried.

The four teenagers ran toward the computer. The two navis were now fighting a bunch of little computer viruses that had appeared in Syaoran's computer.

"What are those things doing in my computer?" Syaoran asked warningly.

"Hiro must have sent them through the net." Maylu said, regaining her composure.

"Don't worry," Lan assured, "Megaman and Roll will be able to fight them off with no problem."

Just as Lan had said, the two navis fought off the viruses without a problem. It looked as if it took no energy at all.

"Was that all he sent out?" Sakura asked, looking for more viruses.

"It was only a 'warning'." Megaman said. "He's letting us know that he knows that we're onto him."

"He always was kind of weird." Lan commented. "He has odd ways of working that only make sense to him."

"It sounds familiar." Maylu said, eyeing Lan.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes at his computer screen, ignoring the argument in the background. Something was odd, something he couldn't explain.

"Lan," He said, "I'm not sure what's wrong, but there's something weird going to there."

"Roll, watch out!" Megaman called in the computer.

He ran and grabbed Roll before jumping onward. A large ball of dark energy hit the very spot where Roll had been standing seconds before.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Bat Man," Maylu replied darkly.

Sure enough, flying through the air was a purple navi with humongous black wings. The navi landed a distance in front of Megaman and Roll.

"I have a message for your Net OPs." Bat Man said. "Leave now or _you_," He pointed to Megaman and Roll, "will be deleted."

"No way Bat Man," Lan cried.

"We're gong to be the ones deleting _you_." Megaman said.

"Very well," Bat Man replied, "you know what this means."

"Get ready for a net battle." Lan said.

Sakura and Syaoran didn't have to wait long to get the idea. A full on battle started going on in the computer.

"This had better not wreck my computer." Syaoran grumbled.

Meanwhile, Lan and Maylu were putting chips into their PETs. The chips transferred powers and abilities to the navis for a short period of time. Watching this gave Sakura an idea.

"I know a way I can help." She said excitedly.

Sakura pulled off her necklace and activated her wand. The two foreign teenagers curiously eyed the pink star wand while also paying attention to the battle.

"Why don't I use Power?" Sakura said, tapping her wand to the pink Power Card.

A red aura surrounded both Roll and Megaman. When Megaman used his Mega Buster attack against Bat Man, it sent him flying.

"Whoa," Lan and Megaman both said, completely awed.

"I have to try out an attack!" Roll said excitedly. "Maylu, send me an Aqua Tower Battle Chip."

"One Aqua Tower battle chip coming right up," Maylu said, inserting a chip into her PET.

Roll pressed her hand to the ground, causing a huge tower of water to shoot up from the ground. The tower traveled right into Bat Man.

Bat Man gave a scream before a computer voice said, "Bat Man, logging out."

"Yeah Mega, we did it!" Roll cried, launching herself into Megaman's arms.

"You bet we did." Megaman said, swinging a laughing Roll in a circle.

"That was awesome!" Lan said, hugging both Maylu and Sakura to the same time.

Syaoran sent Lan a "get your hands off my girlfriend" glare, but he didn't notice it. Despite the obliviousness of Lan, he released Sakura shortly.

"That magic was amazing Sakura-!" Maylu said, stopping short.

"Is something wrong Maylu?" Lan asked, looking down at the girl in his arms.

Syaoran quickly caught on to what Maylu was thinking.

"You think that Hiro his here for magic, don't you?" He asked.

Maylu nodded. "It _is_ the only thing that is here that can not be found in Den Tech City."

Lan put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Syaoran was watching the scene unfold. He was now trying to figure out if he felt friendly toward Lan because he was so easy going or out of pity. The latter seemed the more likely.

"Hiro's not here though, with me and Syaoran." Sakura said. "So if he wanted magic, where would he go?"

Syaoran groaned and hit his palm to his forehead. No, it couldn't be…for the love of all that's good!

"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Syaoran said, "I know where Hiro will be going."

"How is _that _bad?" Lan asked, a confused pout on his face.

"Unfortunately, you'll be finding out for yourselves." Syaoran said.

The door to the place of the four teenagers' destination opened. Syaoran was in an extremely dry mood.

"Ohayo gozaimus cute little descendant." A happy Eriol Hiirigizawa chirped. "I thought you were taking Sakura-chan to the fair today."

"There have been changes in the plan." Syaoran said, then added, "Obviously,"

"I see you've brought two new guests." Eriol said eyeing Lan and Maylu. "Please come in. Nakuru will be happy to see you. You'll also get to meet Tomoyo!"

Syaoran leaned over to Lan and Maylu and whispered, "I'm sorry to have tainted your innocence. It shouldn't have been done this way."

Lan and Maylu looked at each other, gulping, before crossing over into the threshold.

"Hello Sakura-chan, Li-kun, and-! Oh my! We have new GUESTS!" Nakuru shrieked, spotting Maylu and Lan. She immediately steered the two frightened teens to the nearest couch.

"Hello, I'm Tomoyo." Tomoyo said from a couch opposite Lan and Maylu.

Both Lan and Maylu mumbled their hellos nervously. They were eying Eriol suspiciously. There was something odd about that innocent smile on his face.

"I'll make you tea!" Nakuru cried, running into the kitchen.

"Shut up, you hyperactive mistake of magic." Spinnel said lazily, fluttering into the grand room and landing on the armrest next to Lan. "If you want my advice, don't listen to a thing Nakuru or master say."

"Are you a slave or something?" Lan asked.

Spinnel shuddered. "I have nightmares as it is without _that_ suggestion. No, I was made by Eriol's magic." Spinnel nodded toward the smiling teen in glasses.

"And I don't believe I properly introduced myself." Eriol said, walking to Lan and Maylu.

In the background, Syaoran groaned. He and Sakura had taken a seat on the couch with Tomoyo. Syaoran decided that Hiro must be desperate for help if he was asking Eriol.

"Watashi wa Lan desu." Lan said, shaking Eriol's hand.

Eriol released Lan's hand and took Maylu's kissing it. "Who is the lovely lady?"

Both Lan and Tomoyo's eyes narrowed significantly.

"_She_ is _my_ girlfriend, Maylu." Lan said, putting a protective arm around Maylu's shoulders and bringing her close.

Syaoran complimented Lan's glare. He decided that he did like Lan for his personality. Besides, anyone who _didn't_ like Eriol couldn't be too bad, ne?

"Er…thanks?" Maylu replied, unsure of what to say.

"I assume that you're here because of Hiro?" Eriol asked.

Lan's eyes lit up, completely forgetting that Eriol had kissed his girlfriend. "You saw him? You didn't do anything to help him, did you?"

Eriol chuckled, causing both Syaoran and Spinnel to shudder in creepiness. "Yes, I saw him, but I didn't give him any of my magic." Eriol put his index finger on his chin. "He sounded a little too desperate for my liking."

"Do you know where he went?" Maylu asked eagerly.

"Oh yes, I do." Eriol said, snapping his fingers. "Right here,"

When Eriol snapped his fingers, a man in a magic cage appeared. He had light hair and brown eyes. He was currently trying to kick down the bars of the cage.

"Let me out." Hiro cried. "Lan, Maylu, I'll make you pay."

"That's the fifth time you've said that." Eriol said cheerfully. "Anyway, he was trying to get me to magic this." He lifted a small, flat, case from out of his pocket.

"Sci Lab's information!" Lan cried, reaching for the case, which Eriol handed over. "We've got it Maylu. Now we can go back! I told you everything would be alright."

Eriol backed up and sent Hiro away with another snap of his fingers.

"I know that you were right." Maylu said, pulling Lan into a kiss.

"TEA'S READY!" Nakuru cried, bouncing into the room with a tray of tea cups.

"Shut UP!" Spinnel sternly told his moon counterpart. "Can't you see they're having a moment?"

"How cute," Nakuru cooed, stopping to observe the couple.

The couple pulled apart, smiling. They soon began to blush though, realizing that they had just kissed in a room full of people.

"Will you be going home then?" Sakura asked.

"Well, we have the information now." Lan said. "We also need to help our friends and get Hiro in his right place."

"No worries about Hiro." Eriol said, avoiding Tomoyo's persistent glare, "I sent him back to the Den Tech City police. That _is_ where he said he was from."

"I guess that means you have to go home now then?" Sakura asked sadly. "I was hoping you could go to the fair with us."

Syaoran silently cursed his girlfriend for being so kind.

"Can we…"

"NO," Syaoran yelled, cutting off Eriol. "_You_ will not be attending with us."

"Aww," Eriol complained, "but Tomoyo and I wanted to go."

"_Tomoyo_ doesn't want to talk to Eriol at the moment, much less spend the day with him." Tomoyo said, getting up and gong to a different room.

"But Tomoyo-chan…" Eriol said, going after Tomoyo.

"He's done it _again_." Spinnel muttered.

Syaoran sighed, thankful to have dodged that bullet.

"Would it be possible for you to come tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

Maylu looked at Lan. "Yeah…I think it would."

Sakura nodded and smiled. "I'll be waiting for you in that clearing then."

Maylu and Lan nodded before holding hands. They put their PETs together and were surrounded in a colorful aura before disappearing.

Syaoran looked at Sakura and smiled.

Sakura smiled back. "Are you ready to spend the rest of the day at the fair?"

"You bet!"

VictorianPearl: I don't usually curse myself, but you had all better as hell have enjoyed this. I am on my edge right now.

Li: You can thank color guard camp for that.

Syaoran: My American wannabe version of hot me has got it right.

VictorianPearl: First, I wrote most of this in the last hour. I write it in a journal first, so it's not like I made it all up from scratch. But color guard camp has taken its toll on me. Tuesday, Wednesday, and today from 9:00am to 4:00 pm with a one hour break at 12:00.

Li: It's very long and hard on the feet.

VictorianPearl: And it wouldn't be so bad except for this one girl. I am one of the really good veteran members and so naturally many of the newbies look to me for help. But this one little freshman-to-be girl is annoying the heck out of me. I'll be trying to help my friend who is new and trying to catch on during our short, "practice it for a few moments" periods.

Syaoran: And her friend is struggling a little.

VictorianPearl: And then the little freshman-to-be girl waltzes up and tells me "You need to teach me this, I don't get it." Okay, for one thing, you don't interrupt me when I'm in the middle of teaching someone else. Second, you don't order _me _around.

Li: Why, you ask.

VictorianPearl: Because I'm a much taller then her veteran that could do things with my flag that could make her flip backward.

Syaoran: Very vivid.

VictorianPearl: Anyway, I had to vent that. Sorry, make sure to check the bottom of my profile for frequent updates.


	8. Snow Bells

VictorianPearl: I know. It's amazing that I am actually updating this thing. I haven't been able to update because I've been focusing solely on Lucid Darkness, but I decided that I would post up another one. Just for everyone's info. This fiction(s) has not been discontinued, it's simply on hiatus.

Rating: G

Genre: General

Purpose:  A short story reminding us what we _should_ be concerned about on Christmas Eve.

Title: Snow Bells

Syaoran sat on a bench outside at the park. It was Christmas Eve, nearing seven o'clock at night. Snow was coming down softly, but unfailingly. The streets were empty and white. Syaoran could hardly help but admire the beauty of it all.

He had a green beanie on his head and light brown gloves on his hands. His brown and white scarf rested around his neck and his jacket was green, fluffy, and warm.

Syaoran dangled his feet a little bit. He exhaled a long and slow breath, watching his breath turn into smoke. The twelve year old boy crossed his arms tightly for more warmth.

All of his family was away in China, or rather, he was away here in Tomoeda. Sakura had invited him over for Christmas Day as well as Christmas Eve. He had accepted the latter but declined the former. Christmas Eve was about family, and if he couldn't spend it with family, then he would spend it alone.

Candle light was visible from almost all of the nearby houses. Inside, children were probably unwrapping presents and family members were probably all laughing merrily.

Syaoran sighed with a sadness and loneliness he had never known. Maybe he would go over to Sakura's house Maybe if he went, he would be happier.

The boy shook his head of the thought. No, they weren't expecting him to come over, he would just go back to the apartment.

Syaoran stood up with full intentions of heading home. Before he could take two steps, a voice stopped him.

"Syaoran Li, where in the good name of Clow do you thing you're going?"

Syaoran automatically spun himself around. He was surprised, but tried to hide it. "Meiling, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in China?"

Meiling glared at her cousin and shrugged. "Well, if you really want me to be." The odongo haired girl turned around and began to walk away.

"No, wait Meiling!" Syaoran yelled. He ran up to his former fiancé, turned her around, and wrapped her in a hug.

Meiling smiled triumphantly. "Now _that's _how you're supposed to greet your family. What were you doing out here all alone?"

Syaoran pulled back and stared at the ground. "I guess I didn't want to be in the apartment alone all night."

Meiling smiled and linked her arm through her cousin's. "Well now you don't have to be. Come on, I brought fruit cake!"

Syaoran recoiled. "You did what?"

Meiling laughed. "I'm only joking. Now let's hurry and get back to your apartment before someone steals everything in there. You accidentally left the door unlocked. That's when I figured you were really bent out of shape."

"I left the door unlocked?" Syaoran said in shock. This was very unlike him. "We have to hurry now. Come on, let's run!"

The Chinese boy pulled his cousin in the direction of his apartment. They ran all the way there, Meiling laughing up a storm. In the air as this happened, the echo of the bells from the chapel rang out seven times.


	9. Crazy Love

VictorianPearl: This story is going to be a little different from the ones that I usually do, just to warn you.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Romance/Humor

Warnings: There are some (cough) mild adult themes, emphasis on mild, it's not that bad, I'm simply warning you all.

Title: Crazy Love

Love was described by one word…crazy. Sure, it was true that love was caring, passionate, spontaneous, and absolutely wonderful, but for Chiharu Mihara, love was crazy.

To Chiharu, Takashi Yamazaki's love on her was sometimes like being solarized, she wasn't sure if it was good for her health. Sometimes he showed just the right amount of love that made her fall head-over-heels, and others…he was like a bad sun burn you couldn't wait to have peel away.

How was it possible for someone to love and hate their significant other? Whenever Chiharu stood back to watch Sakura and Syaoran or Tomoyo and Eriol, she felt jealous. Why did she and Takashi have to fight all the time?

In class, Chiharu often watched the relationships between her friends. Sure, Syaoran and Eriol would manage to get in fights and their girlfriends would get mad at them, but they weren't necessarily having problems in their relationships.

Chiharu often wondered if she could make the relationship better by cooling her temper. Sometimes, it was difficult to keep it down though. Takashi would do things that drove her crazy in more than one sense.

_Takashi pressed Chiharu against the wall with the force of his kiss. They had just gotten out of a heated argument._

Things would go well for a little while…

_Takashi's fingers were causing Chiharu to moan and arch into his every touch._

But for some odd reason, things would just never last long.

_Takashi's husky voice whispered something extremely kinky into Chiharu's ear. Just as he hands were reaching down, he was whacked over the head with a mallet._

Chiharu sighed and shook her head, Takashi had never learnt.

_"I can't believe you wanted to do that!" Chiharu exclaimed._

_Half dressed, Takashi was staring at Chiharu's legs from the ground._

_"If you didn't want to do anything, why did you wear that mini skirt and take my shirt off?"_

The poor boy might never learn that mini skirts are just too cute to not wear. That wasn't even the _bad_ part yet, either. Just one year ago when they were seniors, Takashi had come up with a wonderful idea.

_Takashi, I'm not sure this is a good idea."_

_"Chiharu, you have to learn to properly drive at some point, I'm helping you along."_

Whenever Takashi came up with an idea, it always sounded better than it turned out.

_After twenty minutes of driving ten miles an hour, Chiharu felt like she was finally getting the hang of it._

_"Alright, let's go to the country road and go a bit faster."_

_"Alright," Chiharu agreed._

The mature teen shook her head, she had been so naïve. How many bad turns would it take for her to figure out how Takashi's head worked?

_"This is my favorite road." Takashi exclaimed._

_Chiharu nervously looked about her surroundings. "Why this road, it's bumpy."_

_"Do you see that…what's ahead of you?" Takashi pointed._

_"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." Chiharu replied._

Chiharu knew that she was a smart girl, she got good grades, but it sometimes took her a while to let herself figure out what was going on.

_Takashi reached his foot over and slammed on the gas. Chiharu screamed._

_"Yamazaki, what the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"_

_"Brace yourself Chiharu!" Takashi yelled._

_The car was sent flying over a hill that had strategically been in the middle of a long stretch of road._

Unfortunately, Chiharu could not say that she had never been in a near death accident. She also couldn't say that what she did next wasn't completely insane, due to circumstance.

_After screaming and flying the car over a hill, they managed to pull the car into an orchard out of the way. Chiharu screamed, Takashi got hit and the next thing you knew, they were making out._

It was memories like this that made Chiharu want to bang her head against the wall. She moaned in exasperation, _why_ was she with him?

_"I love you Chiharu Mihara." Takashi murmured, pressing his lips to Chiharu's over and over again._

The college student smiled weakly. Yeah, that was why.

_"This had better be good Takashi." Chiharu warned._

_"It is." Takashi said, smiling._

_Chiharu gasped as her blindfold was taken off. There was a candlelight dinner set up at the top of a hill at sunset._

Okay, so maybe it wasn't _that_ bad, but it seemed like they were either fighting or making out. Would Chiharu ever figure out this crazy love?

OOO

VictorianPearl: Yay, I have completed yet another addition to One Shot?

Touya: We are very proud of your efforts.

VictorianPearl: Why thank you Touya-kun. I hope you all liked it, as you can tell by the story, I was in very odd mood when I wrote this one.

Touya: Don't worry, we can tell.

VictorianPearl: I know that this one was plotless and pointless, but it was supposed to be fun. I hope I accomplished that.

Touya: I believe Takashi would agree that you did.

Takashi: (in a random dark room with a light being shined in his face) I swear I didn't know that going over that bump at 65 miles an hour was illegal officer.


	10. For All That I Have Lived

VictorianPearl: Here's a short fiction that I typed out for everyone to celebrate heart day! It's your averagely predictable romantic OneShot? that you'll love anyway…or so I hope. X.x

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: PG

Summary: Behind every perfect couple there's a tempest raging.

Title: For All That I Have Lived

Sakura wasn't sure which she should feel more, anger or sadness? What he had said had made her so furious that she had surprised _herself_ at how she felt. The last time she had gotten mad at him had been in fourth grade. She couldn't blame herself though. After all of those things he said, she was still fuming; more than anything though, it hurt that he felt that way.

It was supposed to be a romantic evening, it was Valentine's Day for goodness sake! Out of all of the nights he could have brought it up, why did it have to have be the one that should make couples _ignore_ their problems? It was so out of character for him to even mention such things. What had made him bring it up was beyond her.

_Sakura walked into Syaoran's apartment. She was wearing a red dress that had thin straps and came right below her knees. She spun around after he closed the door._

_"How do I look?" Sakura asked sweetly._

_Syaoran gave a small smile. "Beautiful, of course, you always have."_

_Sakura blushed, even though the comment was expected. She gave Syaoran a hug. _

_"So what have you got planned for tonight, Syaoran?" Sakura asked._

_Syaoran sighed deeply. To Sakura, it felt as if he seemed almost…_reluctant_. She had to be mistaken though. He wouldn't break up with her, would he? No, they had been going out for eight years and he had never hinted a break up at all. She knew that that wasn't it._

_"We will be having dinner." Syaoran said simply._

_"Candlelight…?" Sakura asked hopefully._

_Syaoran nodded. "Yes, it is your favorite after all."_

Something had been odd from the beginning. It hadn't taken Sakura too long to figure that one out. It was what was bothering him that became a bit trickier. Perhaps she shouldn't have tried to expose it; but, it _had_ been she who had wanted no secrets between the two. Whether it had been left alone or not, Sakura felt that neither was better than the other.

Sakura was now on the balcony from Syaoran's room. She had used The Lock to lock the door to his room. She was alone, but she didn't want to run away from this problem. Syaoran had tried to break his door down, but to no avail. They would have to solve this in some way or another, but not right now. Another thing that they had promised each other was "no running from problems".

_Dinner had been finished, as well as dessert. The two were sitting at the small table. Syaoran had been slightly odd the entire time, always shifting and such. Sakura had been extremely curious and worried at first, but then an idea stuck her. _"Maybe he's going to propose!"

_She and Tomoyo had been talking about it only a week ago. Tomoyo had mentioned that it had been a very long time that they had been together, and they were out of high school now…_

_Sakura had dismissed the always romantic Tomoyo, but the conversation had been bugging her a little bit. _"Would he do it?"

_"Sakura…we're not supposed to keep secrets from each other, right?" Syaoran asked rhetorically._

_Sakura's heart sped up. "No," she answered almost immediately after he had asked the question, "no we're not."_

_Syaoran nodded in a condemned manner. "Yes, I suppose you're right. There's been something that has been bugging me for a very long time now."_

_"Yeah," Sakura said, leaning forward, eagerly trying to edge him on._

_"It's about when we were nine." Syaoran said._

_"Nine…?" Sakura said, completely confused. She wasn't sure how this tied into the proposal._

_"It's about the judgment." Syaoran said, no longer making eye contact with Sakura._

_"O-okay…" Sakura trailed, not sure how to react._

_"It's just that…I never really ever thought that you should have been chosen as card mistress."_

Sakura banged her hands against the railing of the balcony.

"Why Syaoran," Sakura cried, tears falling down her face, "you were always so supportive and you were always there for me no matter what was going on."

Sakura gripped the railing and squeezed tightly. She used to think that he was being supportive of her, falling in love with her…but now, she wasn't so sure.

_Sakura must have sat there, simply gaping, for ages. Finally, she managed to form sound from the back of her throat._

_"W-what…? What are you talking about?" Sakura managed. She was trying to pretend that his words had some hidden meaning that they could laugh off together._

_Syaoran put his face down. "I think that I should have been Master of the Clow, not you."_

_Angry tears welled up behind Sakura's eyes. "And exactly how long have you been feeling these emotions, Li?"_

_Syaoran looked up with obvious hurt and anger in his eyes. Sakura's breath caught. She probably shouldn't have said that, but it was too late now, she was taking him down with her._

_"How long do you think?" Syaoran said with fervor. "Obviously I did at first, then they disappeared for a little while, but it's been a long time."_

_Sakura glared at her boyfriend and tried to keep the tears back. She knew that he was lying to her about feeling such emotions for a long time, just to make her mad. She shouldn't have made him angry, now she couldn't trust his answer._

Sakura kicked the railing on the balcony a few times before she retired to her tears. Stupid, stupid Syaoran! Had he really never loved her then, had it all been just to prove that he was better? Did he have some false hope that he might later get the cards? It was all in vain to figure it out now. Why couldn't he just have let those feelings go?

_"So what does this mean then?" Sakura cried. "What do you expect me to do?"_

_Syaoran kicked the table, causing Sakura to jump. "I don't know, I just thought that you would understand."_

_"Understand…?" Sakura said, coughing. "You thought that I would _understand_ that you don't think I'm good enough? You expect me to understand that all of this time we've had together has been something different from what I thought it was?"_

_"You were the one who didn't want secrets?" Syaoran remarked._

_"This-this…I don't even know _what_ this is!" Sakura yelled, tears pouring out. "Tell me what 'we' are then. Has it all really been what it's seemed to be?"_

_Syaoran looked up into Sakura's eyes and then back down. He became frustrated, but didn't say anything._

_When Sakura was met with silence, she leaned back into her chair with realization. She was no longer angry, she was now overwhelmed with sadness. It had all been false then. _He's not defending himself, which means that everything that happenedbetween us meant nothing to him; it was all some sort of power lust. It was all for false hope of the Sakura Cards.

_Sakura stood up slowly and began to walk down the hall._

_"Sakura…" Syaoran called, standing up after her._

_Sakura was already in Syaoran's room though. The door slammed shut by Windy and locked by The Lock. Syaoran ran up and started to bang on the door, calling Sakura's name. He tried to open it up, but Sakura's magic was powered by the fellowship of the cards and it held fast._

Night had long since claimed the sky. Sakura was now sitting and leaning against the rail. Sakura starred at the moon. She didn't want to go back inside. Going back inside would mean facing reality, and she couldn't do that right now.

"Syaoran," she whispered, "for all that I have lived, I have known your gentle kindness. You were always there for me. You were my best friend and my true love. You have been seemingly everything, but now…it seems as if it were all a lie. My naïve eyes could not see what was there the whole time, and if you had not said anything, I would have fallen deeper."

Syaoran hadn't tried to break in for a while. Sakura took in a deep breath and sighed.

_Alright, I don't want to do this, but it has to be done. We have to talk this out like civil people. Hopefully, we can do that without starting another argument, I don't think I have the strength for one._

Sakura stood up, taking another deep breath. She really didn't want to go back inside, but it was inevitable. She gave the moon one more last, longing look before she turned and stepped inside of Syaoran's room.

Sakura's bare feet shuffled against the carpet in Syaoran's room. She released The Lock from its hold. Gently, she rested her hand upon the door knob.

_Because I'm Sakura, I'm sure I'll be alright._

The door knob twisted slowly, making hardly any sound at all. Sakura slowly opened the door, trying to be as silent as possible. She poked her head out from behind the door. The hallway was empty and the apartment was silent. Maybe he had left.

Pushing the door open further, Sakura slipped out into the hall. She gently tip toed up to the corner where the wall ended. She peeked around the corner. There was no one in the living room. The table was exactly how she had left it. From where she stood, she couldn't see anyone in the kitchen.

Sakura sighed. Syaoran was either in the bathroom, or he was gone. Either way, she could handle being the one waiting for him to come out; that gave her more time. She turned around, deciding that she would check the bathroom after all.

The card mistress had barely finished turning around when she screamed. Syaoran was standing right behind her. She had never been so frightened to see him. He put his hands out, trapping her against the wall. There was a great distance between them still. Sakura was backed up against the wall, clutching her chest and he was arms length away, staring into her eyes.

"Are you going to talk," Sakura whispered, "or are you just going to push me away?"

"No Sakura," Syaoran whispered, "I'm not going to push you away."

Sakura stood there, waiting for an answer. She felt she could no longer trust this boy in front of her.

"What I said earlier. I don't resent you for it…you know, being the card mistress." Syaoran started.

"Oh really, I could tell exactly how you felt by the way your voice sounded." Sakura said unemotionally.

Syaoran quickly placed his hands on Sakura's shoulders, gripping them tightly. "It's just that, those feelings have been there for years. I've loved you this whole time. All of the feelings I've felt, they're real!"

"Then why didn't you say anything when I asked?" Sakura said, sadness dripping her voice.

Syaoran put his head down for a second before returning his gaze to her sad, green eyes. "I just…I didn't know what to say to make it better. I thought that if I didn't say anything at all, you might not get angrier."

Sakura gave a small grunt. "So really, how long have you felt this?"

Syaoran's grip tightened. "It's been bothering me these past few months. You've been in so much pain…"

"Syaoran, I told you that it didn't hurt that much. Kero says it's a natural process that's happening because my magic is maturing. Why don't you believe-"

"Because," Syaoran cried, his eyes crystallizing, "you _have_ been in pain. Tomoyo tells me that you can't sleep well at night. I can see the dark circles under your eyes. The light in your face has dimmed; it feels like you're fading. I just thought…I just thought that if maybe _I_ had become Master of the Clow, it wouldn't have had to put you through so much, all of this 'magic maturing'."

Sakura tried desperately not to cry, but failed miserably. "You're so _stupid _Syaoran."

Sakura threw herself into Syaoran's arms. Syaoran hugged Sakura tightly to him. He didn't know what he did to cause her to accept him, but he didn't care. He knew that he had said the wrong thing, but that didn't matter now. What mattered now was helping Sakura get through this.

"Sakura," Syaoran whispered to his crying girlfriend, "how could you doubt that for all that I have lived, it was for your love?"

He was met with more tears and a tighter hug.

OOO

VictorianPearl: Yay, I hope you all like it. I was trying to make it sound like Sakura was going through some tough times with her magic as effect to it growing more mature. I hope you all understood, I know that it seemed like it was thrown in there.


	11. Behind The Scenes

VictorianPearl: Here is yet another OneShot? for you all. I hope you enjoy it.

Genre: Humor

Rating: Pg-13 (to be safe)

Warnings: If you don't like random humor a plotless story with OOC-ness, be prepared, because that's exactly what this is!

Summary: You thought you knew the characters of _Cardcaptor Sakura_, but how well do you know the _actors_?

Title: Behind the Scenes

A large stage of a talk show becomes alight with bright lights and different colors. The theme song plays and a door behind the stage opens. As the hostess walks onto the stage, the crowd goes wild.

The hostess of the talk show is none other than VictorianPearl! She is a young woman with long dark hair, green eyes, and a height of exactly 5'4, wearing a long dress with thin straps and the same effect as a disco ball.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to _Behind the Scenes_!" VictorianPearl says.

The crowd screams and puts on their sunglasses. That dress's reflecting properties are sending the editors crazy.

Also, because VictorianPearl is too long a name to use for the entire length of this OneShot?, I will now be referring to her/myself as "_Vic_".

"Also, here is my co-host, Li!" Vic says, holding her arm out in the general direction of where Li is entering.

Li Showran, the American wannabe version of Syaoran Li, is entering onto the stage.

"Hello everyone," Li says into his own hand held microphone, "today, we have the cast of _Cardcaptor Sakura_ on the show.!"

(input audience screams)

"Here they are!" Vic cues.

The cast of _Cardcaptor Sakura_ walks onto the stage, including, Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Eriol, Yukito, Touya, Fujitaka, Nadeshiko, Kero, Spinnel, Kaho, Chiharu, Takashi, Rika, Yoshiyuki, Naoko, Nakuru, and Meiling.

The cast takes their seats on the three large couches while Vic and Li sit in two chairs across from them. When the crowd finally calms down, Vic and Li start up again.

"I would first like to state that, unfortunately, Sonomi Daidoji has not been able to attend." Vic says. "Her reason why, when I asked, was because she hated Fujitaka and he was here too."

(nervous coughs)

"Anyway," Vic continues, "our first question for you all is, how do you feel now that the show is over? We'll start with Sakura and Syaoran."

"Excuse me," Chiharu says in an unkind manner, "but Sakura and Syaoran _always_ go first. Can't you have someone _else_ start?"

Vic and Li glance quickly at each other.

"Of course," Li says, "we can start with Nakuru."

"Hoe?" Sakura says, squinting her eyes at Vic due to the luster of her dress.

"It's alright Sakura." Syaoran says, wrapping an arm around Sakura's shoulders while glaring at Chiharu.

"Me, of course I'm going to miss everyone in the cast!" Nakuru starts.

Everyone cringes, waiting for the screeching to begin.

"What I'm going to miss the most though, is TOUYA-KUN!" Nakuru screams.

Touya tenses and glares at Nakuru. "Don't you come near me, woman. One thing I'm _not_ going to miss is that voice of yours. I'll finally be able to go places without having to look over my shoulder."

"Such harsh words Touya-kun," Vic emphasizes, "please tell us what you _will _miss."

Touya's eyes get dreamy. "I'll miss Kaho."

Kaho nods in agreement. "I'll miss you too. I should have stayed with _you_ in the story. Why they put me with that four eyed perverted kid is beyond me."

"Excuse me," Eriol shoots, "I _am _right here you know. Besides, it's not _my_ fault they put me with you."

"You know, she's right, master." Spinnel says. "Even _I_ didn't buy the excuse they gave."

(Ahem) "Anyway," Vic interrupts, "why don't we hear from Rika and Yoshiyuki? How do _you two_ feel about your relationship on the set?"

Rika and Yoshiyuki glare at each other.

"They put me with someone _eleven_ years older. How would you feel?" Rika spits.

"Why don't you try eleven years younger?" Yoshiyuki says to Rika. "No ten year old is _that_ mature."

"But Rika," Tomoyo says, "you always looked so cute with Yoshiyuki-sama."

"Yeah, but that's coming from someone who swings both ways." Rika says malevolently to Tomoyo.

"Rika, you know that that was only true for the show." Eriol defends. "She's going out with me after all."

"You-!" Yukito cries. "She's going out with me!"

Tomoyo puts her head in her hands, praying for death.

"We'll be right back!" Li says, cuing the commercials.

(four minutes later)

"Welcome back!" Vic says loudly over the clapping.

"We'll get right back into the show with our questions." Li says. "This one is for Fujitaka and Nadeshiko. Was it hard to make your relationship believable when you hardly got to see each other?"

"We thought it might…" Fujitaka starts.

"…but, we had quite a bit of quality time backstage." Nadeshiko finishes.

"I would say so." Li comments. "You two had small parts, so I'm sure that you got a lot of time to talk to each other."

"That's not what I meant." Nadeshiko says with complete seriousness.

"Uh…next question!" Vic says quickly.

"Tomoyo, how could you not remember _our_ quality time off set?" Yukito bursts.

Eriol stands up. "Tomoyo enjoyed _our_ quality time more than _yours_."

Li calls security and two men dressed in suits come out and drag Eriol and Yukito off stage.

"We have _way_ too much drama going on in our lives." Takashi comments, shaking his head.

"We'll be showing a video now." Vic says frantically, trying to get everyone to calm down.

The lights dim and a trailor for both Cardcaptor movies plays. When the lights come up, the sunglasses go back on and Vic is ready for more questions.

"This one is for Meiling." Vic says. "How did you like recording both movies?"

"The movies were awesome!" Meiling says. "Meiling is such an underappreciated character, I'm glad I got to kick but!"

Li and Vic sigh in relief for actually getting a normal comment out of someone.

"I want sugar." Kero says randomly.

"I'll give you sugar, you over stuffed ball of fluff!" Syaoran cries, jumping up. "Sugar frosting ofeuda!"

A giant wave of frosting emerges from Syaoran's ofeuda and jumps into Kero's mouth. Kero fills up to the size of a beach ball and rolls off stage.

"I've been waiting _years_ for that to happen." Touya says.

"Hoe?" Sakura squeaks.

"Well I've been waiting _years_ for Sakura to find a new saying." Yoshiyuki says dryly.

"Sakura doesn't need to change, she's fine the way she is." Rika points.

"You two should stop fighting." Chiharu says.

"Look whose talking." Rika says back.

"Stop fighting, children." Fujitaka says.

"We need new jobs." Li whispers into Vic's ear.

Vic nods sadly.

In England, Clow watches _Behind the Scenes_ and laughs.

"They should have known better than to invite _that_ cast onto their show."

Meanwhile, back in California on the set, Vic and Li are having problems again. Kaho and Nakuru are fighting, Meiling and Syaoran are sparring, and everyone else is hectic.

Li dives out from the middle of the storm and grabs a microphone.

"We'll be back after these messages."

(four minutes later)

As the show returns, Kaho and Nakuru have also been dragged backstage. The tension is almost visible. Vic and Li mentally contemplate continuing, but they still have time to kill.

"Because questioning seems to have been…difficult," Li starts, "Suppi will be taking the stage for a solo. He sings in his free time, taught by a private tutor. This is Suppi's premier appearance."

A microphone extends upward, the lights dim, and the techies are cued for spotlight. As Suppi takes the stage, a piano starts to play. At about that time, Kero is having his stomach pumped of frosting.

After Suppi's melodramatic performance, the crowd politely applauds and the guardian takes his seat.

"For our next feature," Vic begins, "we have a promotion clip. Touya and Nadeshiko are starring in yet another soap opera. We have a clip from it now."

The techies go through the drill and the large screen comes alight. Nadeshiko is lying sick in her bed while Touya clutches her hand.

"No mother, you cannot die, you mustn't!" Touya cries.

"Touya," Nadeshiko whispers, feigning pain, "you must be weary of your elder cousin."

"Nakuru..?" Touya asks automatically.

"No," Nadeshiko coughs, "your third cousin, you know, the one that's twice removed."

"You mean the one that dated me and Yuki at the same time?" Touya asks.

"And Eriol," Nadeshiko adds.

"But mother, Tomoyo is younger than I am."

"…"

The lights come back up and Vic and Li cough nervously. Vic side steps closer to Li away from the cast.

"Yeah, so go and see their show, it airs at 2:00am on Thursdays!" Vic comments.

"If you catch this week's show, you'll se Chiharu guest starring as the French maid." Li reads his card.

"You had all better tune in then." Chiharu glares at the audience.

The audience shrinks back. They'll do it! Just pleas, Chiharu, stop glaring so fiercely!

"You know I'm uncomfortable with that, Chiharu dear." Takashi comments.

"I have to make money somehow." Chiharu says.

"Slut," Rika coughs.

"What did you say?" Sakura asks before Chiharu can.

"You're too innocent for it." Terada says pitifully.

"Hoe?"

"Stop confusing Sakura." Syaoran says, glaring at the cast.

"She doesn't need them to be confused." Fujitaka mumbles. "My poor daughter."

"Don't encourage it." Nadeshiko warns.

"Will you all SHUT UP! Vic yells, finally snapping. "All you guys have done is argue this whole time. Why don't you just shut up and leave!"

Silence falls. Crickets chirp. Tumble weeds roll. Suddenly, the audience bursts into applause.

Li hugs Vic. "I _knew_ you had it in you."

"You all have free copies of manga under your seats, take 'em and leave." Vic says. "Come on Li, let's go!"

"Where..?" Li asks suggestively.

Vic glares. "Don't even go there. I need ice cream layered in chocolate and whipped cream after all of that."

The two run away. Somehow yet _another_ fight manages to break out among the cast. The credits roll and the theme song plays. _That_, children, is why the cast of CCS has never appeared on a _real_ talk show!

OOO

VictorianPearl: Like I said, plotless, and pretty much pointless humor. I hoped you at least got a smile out of it. Please R&R and tell me what you think!


	12. Consideration

VictorianPearl: I am back with another one-shot. The inspiration for this one was a little unique. This is, as one-shots usually are, plot-less and a little odd. I hope you enjoy it anyway though.

Genre: General

Rating: G

Title: Consideration

OOO

Naoko sat in her library chair. She was desperately studying for her ancient history test. She had long since closed up the library. There was only a ghost light overhead giving a minimal source of light for Naoko.

The young college student pushed up her glasses and glanced up at the clock. 12:14am, she should start to wrap up. It sounded as if the late March rain had finally let up some. If she didn't hurry, she might end up getting drenched.

Naoko pulled her loose jacket off of her shoulders, which had been acting as a lamina against the cold room. She stood and draped the jacket over her chair. Usually she was very stringent about her study hours, not working longer than as healthy. Today though, she couldn't pause in her work.

The books and binders closed under Naoko's fingers. She slipped them into a book bag and snapped it shut. She then moved to pt the books back in their rightful places.

As Naoko came back to the table holding her book bag and jacket. She quickly put on the article of clothing to escape the gaping cold. She brought the book bag strap over her shoulder and held the keys to the library in her hand.

For some reason, today had not been Naoko's day. She had woken up late, just to start off well. She then found that her term paper on Robes Pierre had _not_ been as satisfactory as she had hoped. So many little thins had gone on, adding up as a large weight pressing down on her shoulders.

Naoko set the security alarm, locked up the library, and began her brisk walk home over the wet sidewalks. She dropped the keys into the side pocket of her book bag and hugged herself for warmth. For today, studying had been her godsend, her escape from all the denizen of "happy life".

Ever since elementary school, Naoko knew she was the one with the angst outlook on life. For goodness sake, she buried herself in _ghost stories_.

Naoko kicked the ground a bit as she walked. She felt so separated from reality, even though others didn't seem to think so, she did. It felt like it was all work and no fun, no room to breathe.

Maybe a hobby is what she needed, besides reading books, but what? Naoko shrugged to herself, who knew? Hopefully she would figure it out soon though.

The poor girl reached her dorm and slipped inside. She had always been so pressured to do better than her best. She had always felt pressured to be a model Japanese student, it was taking more out of her than she liked to admit.

Naoko got into her nightgown and started on what little sleep she would accomplish that night. Some people, it just took a while for them to find happiness. Books could only provide so much substance.

'_Perhaps tomorrow,' _Naoko thought as her eye lids fell, _'perhaps I'll find happiness tomorrow.'_

OOO

VictorianPearl: Like I said, kind of odd and not really any general story line. I've been thinking about college and how much work it's going to be. I guess that's where all of this comes from. We all have to remember not to work ourselves too hard, but in order to accomplish everything we need to, we have to. In this story that's how Naoko felt. She wanted to have fun and relax, but she was waiting for it to come to her, she wasn't going to it.


	13. Unending Suffering

VictorianPearl: Here is a new installment for OneShot? I hope you all enjoy it. I would also like to add that notes concerning the idea of this story will be added at the end.

Rating: T (to be safe)

Genre:  Angst/Romance

Summary: She worked long and hard to get the two of them together, posing for emotional support and pushing them closer. When it finally happened though, was it worth it?

Title: Unending Suffering

Although she already had been hanging around both of them for quite some time before I came, none of that time is what really matters. It wasn't until I came that the Chinese boy started to like the Cardmistress; and therefore, it wasn't until I came that _she_ began to help match-make.

I watched the three of them fairly closely, but at the time I was busy worrying about Sakura's magic, getting the cards transformed, and keeping my true identity hidden, to pay much special attention to the girl Tomoyo Daidouji. Everything comes from my memory as I think more deeply on it.

She worked so hard, although she didn't show it, to bring together Sakura and Syaoran. She was always there for them, ready to listen or give advice, and even made it through all of the magical havoc I wreaked, becoming a victim of it more than once. She kept working hard because it wasn't until after the final standoff that they confessed to each other; it wasn't until after the final standoff and we were at my mansion that I really even began to notice her, to _really_ notice her.

I commented a few times on her perception, saying it was truly a gift, and she gave me the warmest of smiles. She doesn't know it, but with that first smile her attraction hit me in the chest and I was completely pulled in.

It was a good thing that everything was coming to a close, or I felt it a good thing at the time, because I was supposed to _finally_ move on in my life, grow up (physically), marry Kaho, and return to England. Being attracted to her wasn't an option, but no matter how old or wise I really was, I was a fool to think I could outsmart or push away love.

On my final day there, when Sakura and Tomoyo came to visit, I found I didn't want to leave. As I stood and looked between Tomoyo and Kaho, I saw so much difference. I saw that Kaho was like Sakura, cute, naïve, carefree (in some ways), and I denied myself that I felt for Kaho what I felt for Sakura. It was love, but that of a different kind.

As I thought there, looking at her, and again on the plane to England, and again so many times long afterward, Tomoyo was the one I wanted to figure out. She claimed that to see Sakura happy would make her happy, but would it really, and if so, for how long? I wanted to be there to see. Tomoyo had secrets that nobody but she knew along with the secrets of many others she had to hear alone…very much like myself with the memories of Clow.

I wanted to find out her secrets.

After a long time though, she became distant and I thought of her less…all until I got a phone call from Sakura concerning the Void. That phone call sent memories through my head like a tidal wave, hitting me hard. It was so much worse after that phone call.

England life went downhill from there. I found myself thinking at how this girl from Japan, this violet-eyed; long, dark haired girl had more power over me than I had magic in me. It was a power that could waste my days and give me sleepless nights and cause me to forget what else in the world was important.

Kaho's forgetful nature allowed her to shrug off my behavior easily enough at first, but not for much longer. We tried to make things work, but I only put effort forth because I truly did not know what else to do. It was a slow ride downhill for our relationship where a fiery pit awaited us.

It was a long process in which I felt unending guilt. Kaho was very upset and I didn't know how to make her feel better because I could not make myself better in a future that included her. In the end, we were finally able to agree to separate. I was going to go to Japan, where she went, I do not know.

I returned to Tomoeda along with Nakuru and Spinnel. I did not need to announce myself, for Sakura and Syaoran sensed my aura and sought me out on their own. They were much the same as I left them, except older and, perhaps happier. The real change was in Syaoran, for when I told him I was to join them in their final year of high school, he hid his emotions much better than I had expected him to.

But I still had yet to see Tomoyo.

When the first day of school came I was excited, I even got to class ridiculously early, just to be able to see her. When she came through the door she was more than I had expected. She was older, more mature, beautiful, and seemed so confident. She spotted me in my usual seat and smiled wonderfully before working her way toward me.

"Hiirigizawa-san, Sakura-chan told me you would be here, I'm so happy to see you." She frowned after saying so and took the seat in front of me, not breaking eye contact. "I heard about what happened, and I'm so sorry about Kaho."

I simply gave my usual smirk.

"That's the reason they make relationships between so young a person and an older person illegal in most countries."

Tomoyo smiled but we said no more because Sakura and Syaoran entered and came to the back to sit next to us. It was then that I saw it, the sad glint in her eye that hadn't been there before, a glint of longing.

After school I said a quick goodbye with an excuse of persistence and parted from them, just for the time being. I used my magic to bring me to the branches of a tree where I knew (assuming they walked the same rout home as the did in elementary school) I would see them part ways.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Sakura and Syaoran waved goodbye at the crossroad and left Tomoyo by herself. I watched her wave goodbye to them cheerfully, but as soon as they were out in the distance, her shoulders sagged and her eyes dropped. She tightly gripped her book bag as she walked on home. There was an old sadness there, one that was more a feeling than an emotion. I saw her bite her lip, probably brooding over her best friend's relationship that didn't include her, or something of the like…something.

Seeing Tomoyo like this brought my spirits down. I cared about her so much, I _missed_ her so incredibly much, but I had to play it slow. There was time and I had a few ideas. To rush anything at all could mean possible disaster, and this time that really _wasn't_ an option.

I began to be more social with Sakura, Syaoran, and Tomoyo. I conversed with them often at school, I was always invited by Sakura to hang out with them, which I accepted, and I attended study lessons. I kept gently allowing my presence to become somewhat natural, but not so natural that it was taken for granted, by Tomoyo of course.

School went through its routine and as the second half of school was starting the cliché winter ball started to grow closer. Syaoran asked Sakura to the ball by decorating her locker, or something corny like that that he knew she would love. Tomoyo clapped her hands and smiled, but I knew, I just _knew_ she wasn't happy. So after our usual Friday study group date, instead of parting ways with my three friends at the crossroad, I decided to continue with Tomoyo.

"Hiirigizawa-kun, are you sure you don't mind walking me home? After all, you live in the opposite direction." Tomoyo said, crossing her arms over her long, brown, button-up, coat.

"It's no trouble," I replied, "I can just teleport home. Sometimes I wonder if you forget I have magic."

Tomoyo giggled in response. "Yeah, I do, I suppose. I am glad though, because gets so dark so early! I don't like walking home alone at this time anymore."

I nodded, glancing at her to see her looking up at the dark sky. We continued along the sidewalk in silence for a little while before I decided to start a conversation on a serious note.

"Daidouji-san, it would make me very happy if you would just call me Eriol."

She stopped walking and her eyes went wide. She looked at me, trying to read through my smile. I'm not sure if she guessed my true intentions or not, but that wasn't my main concern.

"E-Eriol…well, if I am to call you just Eriol, then you should just call me Tomoyo." She replied, smiling with a glint in her eye.

My smile broadened, I really hadn't been expecting that from her, but I couldn't resist to just say it.

"Tomoyo…"

We continued to walk again until we eventually came to the front of her house. She stopped and thanked me for walking her home, but I wasn't ready to leave yet.

"Tomoyo, I know how you are feeling." I said to her, my face serious.

She started to smile, and perhaps make a joke, but when she caught my expression she stopped and her face became somewhat of surprise.

"I don't know what you mean…Eriol." She whispered.

I actually saw a distant fear in her eyes. There was a fear and a longing. I could only assume it was a fear that I had actually guessed how she felt, and maybe that she wasn't sure whether she wanted me to know or not, to find out or not.

I whispered back to her as well. "I know that you're not really happy, that Sakura's happiness isn't enough for you, and whether or not you think you would really be happy in that kind of relationship, it kills you that she never thanked you for giving her support when she was in love with Syaoran-san."

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, looking at his eyes in scrutiny. "It's Sakura, she doesn't realize what I did for her; she doesn't realize that I needed her verbal appreciation."

"But their relationship-"

I stopped for her eyes were welling up with tears and she began to choke on her breathing.

"I…I just know it's so wrong to still feel things, but I don't know how to get rid of how I feel. Every time I think I'm over it and that I'm truly happy for them I somehow feel like I've been stabbed in the back again. I feel so alone because I know I can't go to anyone; she's my best friend and I can't even go to her."

I opened my arms and she threw herself in them. I tightly held her as she cried deeply into my black sweater. She clutched my sweater tightly and I felt as if she was mentally willing me to not let go…so I didn't.

Either five minutes or five hours later her tears slowed and she loosened her hold and pulled away. She wiped away her tears and gave me the weakest of all smiles.

"Tomoyo, are you going to be alright?" I asked, truly concerned for her.

She nodded and sniffed. "I think so, I feel so less weighed down now that I know someone else knows."

I smiled. "Would you like to talk more about it?"

She gently took either of my hands with hers and pulled me toward the front gate to her house.

"Only if you come inside." Was her reply.

So I sat there later that night on her bed. She had eventually fallen asleep on my chest after talking out all of her feelings. I somehow didn't feel it was right to stroke her hair or her cheek, almost like it would be taking advantage of the situation and her trust and friendship in me.

She had spilled everything into me, like water into a glass. She told me of her sorrow from the very time it began. She told me of how she was very happy at first, and how it had taken her years to figure out why she had slowly become less and less happy. She said that she was ultimately unhappy now because it had taken her so long to accept that Sakura was the cause of her unhappiness.

After so much release of years pent up, she had practically collapsed against my chest in drain. I didn't know what to do now though. Should I leave her or should I stay? What would she think if she woke up and I was gone, or she woke up and I was still there? Would she be sad if I wasn't there, or would she be upset that I was there and she regretted telling me everything? As she, either unconsciously or consciously, tightened her hold on me in her sleep, I decided I could not leave her.

She woke up the next morning to find me still there and she did not regret pouring herself into me. I told her I had to leave and she only smiled, saying it was fine. When I saw her at school she acted more or less the same toward me as she always had. Soon though, I noticed she slowly began to stay around me more.

For the next week, I continued to walk her home each day after school. There were no more tear shed encounters or emotional conversations, but we were seemingly always together. I can't say it was as though a relationship was building, but our bond was most definitely building.

I knew that something was happening between the two of us as soon as Syaoran started to watch me persistently. If he was noticing what was going on between us, then it must have _truly_ been there…not to offend his perception, but he does spend almost all of his time with Sakura.

It was very amusing, I must say. He would walk into the classroom about ten minutes early to find me and Tomoyo in a conversation that had already been lasting at least ten minutes, and that was what really caught his attention. At first he probably just thought that she was being nice, but after the span of about two weeks he started to get suspicious, watching us closely at lunch and study groups. After about another week of analyzing us he felt truly secure about the things going on between me and his girlfriend's best friend, and that's when the amusement really started.

Syaoran began to ask me questions and attempt to walk in on seemingly compromising situations. During study groups he would ask things such as,

"We should arrange into two groups of two. Hiirigizawa-san, who do _you_ want to be paired with?"

"Why, with you my cute little descendant."

He never tried that one again.

Oddly enough though, Syaoran's attempts made Tomoyo feel…special might be the wrong word, but that's as close as I can come. Perhaps it wasn't just that she was moving on, but I like to think that she enjoyed the acknowledgement of being in a position where someone she cared about returned her feelings equally.

The school year progressed onward. It came to be that each Friday after study group I would walk Tomoyo home and stay with her that night. It wasn't a situation where we were simply just friends, but we weren't really more than friends either. I wanted to ask her how she felt and figure things out, but then again, it was enough to just be with her and to _know_ that she wanted me with her.

Progression continued and it soon became harder to hold all that I felt inside. It was now the beginning of February and still I had not admitted my feelings to her and she hadn't to I. I wonder how we were able to go on this long for so long. I couldn't do it anymore though, so I decided to act a little like Clow and be traditional. I would tell her on Valentine's Day. Valentine's fell on a Saturday this year and I knew exactly how I wanted everything to go. I made my first move that Wednesday.

"Tomoyo, how was your day?" I asked, walking beside her as we went home together ahead of Syaoran and Sakura.

"Same old same old," She replied, tugging on her winter school uniform.

"I was wondering if you had any plans Saturday evening."

"Valentine's Day…no, I wasn't planning on doing anything that evening." She laughed a little, flicking her hair behind her back. "Why?"

"Well, since neither you or I has a 'valentine' to spend the day with, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I came over and brought a few movies. We could make a day out of a day that would have been otherwise uneventful."

She smiled at me, her violet eyes sparkling. She did not understand the double meaning behind my words, I am confident of that.

"I'm not sure if I like how the end of that was so blunt, but you're right, and I would love for you to come over to my house."

I don't think three days had ever passed so slowly for me. I was absolutely anxious for Saturday. I really didn't know what to do. Reading became uninteresting, I didn't really need to study, and taking walks never lasted long enough. I used my magic on Syaoran Li a couple of times, but even _that_ could not keep me interested for long.

So after three sleepless nights, Saturday finally came. It was that day, the day I was going to tell her how I felt, and even though I was sure of her return of likeness, I had that stone of doubt in my stomach. There was the 'if' factor holding me back, telling me to wait longer. When I looked though, I found that I did not want to wait any longer, I wanted to end this odd suffering that I had never experienced with Kaho, whether for better or worse.

When the time came, I took the gifts I had gotten out of the fridge and did one more take in the mirror to make sure that I looked decent. My reflection showed me a tall young man with glasses and wise eyes, very similar to Clow, but not Clow. I was wearing a black, short-sleeved, button-up shirt with a dark blue tie, black slacks and black shoes. I nodded to my reflection and headed to the door.

"Good luck master!" Nakuru shouted to me, leaning from the kitchen so that I was able to glimpse her frilly, pink, apron.

"Yes master, it's too bad you had Sakura seal the Sweet Card, that one might have come in handy." Spinnel commented.

"Thank you for your uplifting comments, Nakuru, Spinnel." I replied.

"Not a problem," Nakuru winked and returned to making chocolate in the kitchen.

I walked to Tomoyo's house, trying to buy some time since I was so early. I came to the large estate that Tomoyo lived at and buzzed in. Once in I immediately went to the back yard. I found her sitting in one of the chairs on the patio. She didn't notice me at first since she was angled slightly away from me. Her arms were crossed and her legs stretched out leanly. She was wearing a black dress and her dark hair was falling everywhere behind her.

I cleared my throat to alert her that I was here. She looked over and smiled at me so wonderfully that I felt my body paralyze and my heart pound violently in my chest. I could only manage a weak smile back to her.

"Hi," Tomoyo whispered softly.

"Hi," I whispered back.

I managed to will my body to move and walked over toward the patio table and chairs where she stood up. We were shaded by large trees but there was still room for star gazing and moon beam to reach us.

"I have something for you." I told her softly.

She smiled back in reply, waiting for what I would do. I brought out a heart shaped box of chocolates from behind my back and a bouquet of red roses. Her smile deepened as she took the said items. She gently placed the box of chocolates down on the patio table and took the roses in both hands.

"Twelve roses," she looked up at me and raised her eyebrow.

I knew what her questioning look meant and I brought out a single yellow rose from behind my back.

"For friendship," she said, taking the rose in her hand.

No, that's not what I wanted it to be, that's not what I wanted it to mean. I couldn't let her think that.

"Tomoyo, I'm in love with you."

She was taken aback. She looked up at me quickly with wide eyes. I'd never seen so much hope in one's eyes.

"You…do you really?" She asked, the hope filling into her voice.

"Yes, very much," I whispered to her.

Her eyes looked like crystals from filling with water.

"I love you Eriol, I love you too."

I didn't wait any longer, I pulled her to me and kissed her. She breathed in sharply and froze. After a moment though, she regained sensibility and gently set the roses on the table behind her without breaking the kiss I had started. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I finally took the opportunity to run my hands through her hair and then hold her close to me.

When I finally pulled back she looked up slowly and smiled gently at me. I smiled back and gave her a small kiss.

"Come inside?" She questioned.

For her, how could I refuse?

So after the night had passed I found myself on Tomoyo's bed, holding her sleeping figure in my arms. She looked absolutely angelic, the moonlight was beaming through the large bedroom windows down upon her, illuminating the violet streaks in her hair. I gazed at her fair face, soft lips, long eyelashes, and her soft bangs. My hands were gently tangled through her hair and gripping at her waist.

I smiled down at the girl before me. She wouldn't have to feel alone again, she wouldn't have to feel heartbreak, or feel negative toward Sakura. No, she was happy now; I knew she was, and _I_ was happy now. I did it. I got Tomoyo.

V

VictorianPearl: First I would like to make a little disclaimer here. This story is not completely original. I read a one-shot a very long time ago, one of the first one-shots I ever read. It also happened to be one of the very first Eriol/Tomoyo one-shots I read. It really got to me and I loved it. I only read it twice, when I went to go and read it a third time it had been deleted.

I immediately ran into my room and scribbled down on about three pages on a random notebook what I could remember of the story and how it went, attempting to re-write it so that it would not be completely lost. About two years later I was deeply inspired to write the story, but I expanded on it ridiculously and made it my own in some ways, just keeping the very basic plotline and a few things from the story that I really, really loved.

I had some doubts about posting this since it wasn't my original work, but since the story had been deleted I really wanted to share it with everyone. I hope nobody has a problem with this and I really hope you all liked it.


	14. Waiting

VictorianPearl: Here is the latest installment. Notes will be at the end of the piece.

Rating: K+/PG

Genre: Angst

Title: Waiting

Summary: Sakura waited for Syaoran Li to return to Japan for so long, living only with her thoughts to keep her company.

I sit on my bed and try my hardest not to cry. It's been so long, but I'm still not any stronger than I was the first day we parted. If anything, I'm weaker.

I grip my sheets tightly and stare out at the night sky, attempting to get my mind off of him. He's all I can ever think about, I've become so consumed by him. He's in my every thought when I wake, when I go to bed, in my dreams…his face is there every time I close my eyes.

Going to school, doing things with friends, staying busy, those are all just things to make the time go by until I can see him next. Phone calls are nice most of the time, but sometimes I wish so desperately to just throw myself into his arms and be held tightly, because he has the power to make every bad feeling within me disappear.

My chin trembles and tears fall down. I am so desperate. I don't think I've prayed so hard, or wished so much before this time. I didn't think there was anything more painful in the world than what I had already experienced. This pain outdoes any pain I've ever felt.

My trembling hands clutch my heart. It beats so fast. I'm so anxious to see him. I'm always expecting him to walk right through the door to my house, or I'm expecting to bump into him whenever I enter or leave a store. I'm always left disappointed, but I never stop hoping. It's all I have, this painful hope.

The pain that stings me is somehow welcoming though. I know that it only hurts so badly because we love each other so much. So as long as I have this throbbing pain with me, I know that we are desperately in love, despite whether we actually say it to one another or not. I choke on more sobs.

Time moves so slowly sometimes between phone calls to and from him. When I think of all the time that has gone by waiting for him though, it's moved so fast. I try so hard to appreciate the time I spend with my family and friends, but it's impossible not to think of him.

I decide to stand up and place my forehead against the window. It is cool and comforting. It helps me calm down a little. I wonder if he feels the same pain that I feel. I wonder if it is this hard for him, if he thinks of my face every second of the day, if he thinks of me to help him fall asleep, or if he is always expecting me to fly in to visit.

Sometimes I waste whole days away. I've never done that before. I'll keep myself slightly interested in things for the day. I'll take small naps, play on the computer a little bit, go run an errand; I'll do things that float me through the day until night when I can call him. I waste whole days!

And is it worth it? Of course it is. I would rather live with this pain forever than have to live without him. I'm too deep in to turn back now. I'm too in love to turn back now. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. His absence has made me so fond of him my heart might burst from it.

It gets hard sometimes, at least more hard than usual. Sometimes when we call each other I'll cry, and he doesn't like that, it makes him sad. I don't want to make him sad, but it's _so_ hard. Sometimes I can really feel the ocean that is between us. I can feel the hundreds of miles between us and I feel so small. I feel as if it's impossible to reach him across all those miles sometimes. I wonder if he ever feels that about me.

My tears finally subside. They come and go so often now, it's completely natural. The pain is completely natural. When I fight to sleep, there will be times when I, for some reason, blame him for my hurt and suffering, even though I know he must be feeling the same. But I don't know how he feels, and I sometimes wonder if he feels anything. I know he does, but the dark can be so oppressing sometimes. I have to make myself think of him in the most positive light, because if I do that when I'm falling asleep, I'll wake up happy and thinking of him.

I don't want to blame him for anything, because I love him. But it gets to be so hard. He's never blamed me for anything. He's never said anything bad to me. But he's strong, and I'm not that strong. He can survive without me, but I live for him.

I look up at the sky and breath gently, causing the glass to fog up a little. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that he comes back and takes this pain away, then again, maybe not. But I know that day will come. I know that he won't let me down, even though I feel as though I've let him down in so many different ways. I know he won't blame me has I have him, and I know that he'll love me as I love him. I rest my forehead against the window again.

"Syaoran, I miss you so much."

OOO

VictorianPearl: Short and angsty, it may or may not be in character for Sakura, but I didn't really care about that. I wrote this piece for me. I'm dealing with a bit of a long distance relationship at the moment and I wanted to use Sakura as my output. I wanted to show a weak and vulnerable Sakura that nobody else probably knew about, because I'm sure she wouldn't have told anyone, it would have been too painful to talk about.

Yeah, so there was some channeling of feelings going on here. I myself haven't really read any one-shots about Sakura missing Syaoran or vice versa, so I'm not sure if this one-shot is similar to any others out there, but like I said, I did this one for me. I hope you all enjoy it though!


	15. Left in the Rain

Mood: Genre/Romantic

Mood: Genre/Romantic

Rating: K

Purpose: Experimentation

Title: _Left in the Rain_

Sakura dragged him to a shaded and quiet spot off of the pathway and in between the trees.

They had all been at the temple that day. The whole class had gone. It had been a first time visit for many, but he had already made a point to visit the temple many times. It was too beautiful for him to have missed.

The day had been long and hot, but with evening quickly approaching, it was a little cooler, at least. The sky was covered with grey clouds that threatened rain, but that didn't stop the humidity from wearing everyone down.

Syaoran had had a fun day that day. So much had happened between him and his classmates. He was a little tired, but he didn't want to leave one of his favorite places for home yet. He especially didn't much mind being pulled away by Sakura. She often managed to get him away from his teasing classmates when they became too much for his temper to handle.

"Syaoran," Sakura started.

A raindrop fell on her nose, stopping her speech. It was beginning to sprinkle.

"Do you have an umbrella?" Syaoran asked, searching for his so that they would not get wet in the heavy weather.

"No, Syaoran, there's something important I need to tell you." Sakura said, eagerly.

Syaoran paused in mid-search for his umbrella and met her eyes. They were connected with his, full of hope and fear. He didn't know it, but she had been waiting all day to tell him something deep inside of her heart. It was something that made her happy and sick at the same time, something that helped her sleep and kept her awake on so many different nights. She had worked very hard to get him away to tell him.

"What is it?" Syaoran asked, confused as to why he suddenly felt nervous.

Sakura looked down shyly. "I know that it's probably no secret that I like you."

Syaoran's heart pounded violently in his chest at her words. His eyes widened and he was paralyzed.

Sakura continued to look down as she spoke.

"I just…I do and don't know how I feel about you, and I was just wondering if you felt the same way for me, because I sometimes can't tell."

She looked up into his eyes again, slowly.

"Does any of that make sense?" She asked, wanting confirmation.

Syaoran didn't know what to do or say. His mind had gone blank and his body was not responding. He simply stood in the light rain.

"I-I don't know. I don't know." Was all that Syaoran could manage to stutter out.

"Oh," Sakura mouthed, eyes glancing to the ground and then back up to Syaoran's.

"That's okay," she said, trying to sound normal and not like a nervous wreck. "I don't know either."

Syaoran slowly backed up a few steps. The hope left Sakura's eyes, only leaving fear, fear as to what he might do. He saw her eyes, he couldn't look away from them.

"I just don't know." Syaoran whispered. He wanted to say something else, anything else, but he couldn't think. His mind was blank.

Sakura wanted to move. She tried to step forward and speak, but she was frozen now too. She could only watch as the person she liked walked away, glancing to see if she was following. But Sakura didn't follow, she just stood in the rain, trying to recall what had just happened in front of her and trying not to cry.

_He was confused, so he ran away._

Syaoran walked down the path back to the temple gates. He didn't even remember his umbrella in his bag. He just knew that he didn't know what to do, and he hadn't even realized that he was walking away. Why hadn't he told her how he had felt as well?

_He didn't mean for that to hurt her. _

His mind had gone blank. He had been so nervous. Surely she understood that. She had probably felt the same way, right?

_She surprised him, told him a secret he craved yet feared to hear._

But he had been glad at her words. His heart had exploded at her words. So why hadn't he said anything to her? Why hadn't he told her his feelings?

_He ran, but what would happen to her?_

She was alone and with no umbrella. She would just rejoin the rest of the class, probably.

_She would not leave._

But this was Sakura, and she wouldn't want her friends to see her upset. She must be so upset.

_Rain was falling down, harder than before._

He couldn't just leave her there alone. He couldn't let her think that he didn't feel the same way as she did. He had to explain to her what had happened.

_He spun around and ran back, ran over oceans of puddles._

Syaoran's pants were getting soaked as he didn't even try to jump over all of the puddles that had already formed. He didn't care though, he dashed up the pathway, eager to find Sakura.

_Rain was falling like tear drops._

He saw her, she hadn't moved from before.

_She had them down her face._

_Rain and tears._

_Not meant to be neglected, not meant to be hurt._

Syaoran ran up to her, breathing heavily and trying to gather himself so that he could tell her how he felt. She looked at him, her eyes scared and sad, green and red.

_Suffering, it was all so fast, it caused suffering._

"Sakura, I'm sorry I left you. I didn't mean to just leave you."

_A friend is what he would be?_

"I know how you feel,"

_No, not that, more than that._

"Because I feel the same way.

_He returned the secret._

"I like you too. I thought it was obvious, and I was scared that maybe you knew the whole time and were trying to ignore it."

Sakura stared at Syaoran with wide eyes, her heart speeding up again, pounding violently in her chest.

"So…we like each other?" She asked tentatively.

Syaoran nodded and smiled. "We like each other."

_On her face now,_

_It is only rain._

VOVOVOVO

VictorianPearl: This one-shot was based off of a poem I wrote around 2004-05. Somewhere around there. I couldn't just post the poem, so I added the story to it. The story gives detail to the characters that I had in my mind when I wrote it.

The original poem is all there in the italicized font. I wanted to keep what had inspired me to write the story, and at first I was just going to tack it onto the end, but then I decided I liked it better in between the paragraphs. I feel it gives a little more emotion and insight to Syaoran and Sakura. I hope you all enjoyed it!


	16. Ghost Stories

Genre: Mystery/Horror

Rating: T

Purpose: Theme of the Month

Title: Ghost Stories

Syaoran stood on Tomoyo's doorstep with Eriol and Takashi. He was dressed in a green outfit with a green hat and a plastic sword and shield. He had a half sad half frustrated look on his face. Eriol, on Syaoran's left, was dressed in a pumpkin outfit with a green hat acting as a stem on his head. He was smiling quite happily through the doorway. Takashi had a similar smile on his face. He was dressed in complete black, shirikens hanging on his outfit.

"Sakura, Tomoyo, please let me inside." Syaoran pleaded with puppy eyes.

Giggles erupted from the inside of the doorway. Five figures gathered around to peer at the boys standing outside. Sakura's green eyes stood out from her black, witch costume, complete with a broom and pointed hat. She smiled at her boyfriend.

"Sorry Syaoran, no boys allowed until ten o'clock." Sakura said, laughing.

"You can't make an exception?" Eriol asked, although he didn't seem to care whether he had to wait or not.

"Sorry, rules are rules." Tomoyo said, wearing a shimmering angel costume with sparkling wings.

"Who makes up the rules?" Syaoran asked.

"We did!" Rika exclaimed, jumping in the background and giving the boys a gimps of her pirate outfit, complete with a bandana and eye-patch.

"Ya, and there can be no breaking of the rules!" Chiharu exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips while looking very cute in her fairy costume.

"Didn't you know," Takashi piped, pointing his finger in the air, "that in the olden days, women made all of the rules and the men had to be their slaves."

Syaoran sent a horrified look at his ninja-dressed friend. Chiharu on the other hand, shook her head in hopelessness.

"Until nine, why don't you boys go out trick-or-treating for us?" Naoko asked sweetly, dressed as a bunny.

"Trick-or-treating?" Syaoran asked incredulously. "But we're _nineteen_."

"You don't look your age." Tomoyo assured.

"Syaoran might not, but Takashi and I certainly do." Eriol commented, receiving a glare out of Syaoran.

"Come on Syaoran, don't you want to get me some sweets?" Sakura asked, eyes brimming with cuteness.

Syaoran tried to resist, but there was no resisting those green eyes at point blank. The poor boy's shoulders sank and he nodded.

Cries of joy erupted from the five girls. "You're so kind, Syaoran-kun." Rika commented.

Eriol, Syaoran, and Takashi were each handed ghost, pumpkin, and skull buckets respectively. Syaoran peered curiously at his little bucket.

"Where did you find these?" Syaoran asked.

"McDonalds, of course!" Takashi piped up.

"Actually, he's not lying this time." Fairy Chiharu said, slapping her hand to her forehead.

"I like the prizes in happy meals." Naoko said sheepishly, hiding her blush with her fuzzy bunny hands.

"Now go get us some candy!" Sakura cried, making little sweeping motions with her broom, as if sweeping the boys off the porch.

She stood in front of the doorway so the boys wouldn't have _any_ second thoughts about trying to get back into the house. Syaoran got a better look at her witch costume with its laced bodice, gauzy skirt, striped tights, and shimmering shoes.

"Go my friends, while the night is young!" Sakura cried, making a sweeping motion so great she almost knocked her pointed hat off her head.

Tomoyo jumped in front of Sakura in her shinning angel costume. "Don't let Syaoran take all the chocolate!" Aiming her cry toward Eriol.

The pumpkin boy simply winked a blue eye, smiling at his little angel.

Amidst all of these lovely thoughts, the door was unceremoniously slammed in the poor boys' faces. They frowned at the door. Takashi nudged Syaoran to let him know they might as well go get the candy.

"It could be fun!" Takashi said enthusiastically, walking down the pathway that led to the front gate.

"Indeed," Eriol agreed, "besides, we'll have to come back once these little buckets are full, and that won't take very long, will it?"

Syaoran smiled and shook it. "No it won't, not very long at all."

Back inside the house, the girls were gathered in Tomoyo's living room. They had arranged themselves in a circle. The lights were out and candles were lit, sitting all over the room.

"Time for ghost stories!" Naoko said in a spooky voice, shining a flashlight in her face.

"I have an idea." Tomoyo said.

"Go ahead then." Rika encouraged.

Tomoyo nodded, sending her halo wobbling. "Alright. Once, on a dark autumn night, Sakura was walking through the countryside."

_Sakura skipped down the pathway in her cute witch costume. She was carrying her broom and a pumpkin pale. _

"_La la la la la, I'm Sakura and I'm cute and I wish that Tomoyo could videotape me in cute costumes all day long."_

Sakura gagged. "That doesn't seem like me."

"Continue, continue," Naoko pressed.

_Sakura had lost her map and was trying to find her way home. Her cell phone had no service and she was walking down the road in hopes of meeting a traveler or finding a shop with a phone she could borrow._

_After walking through the evening and part of the night, Sakura finally came upon a little shop a little ways off the road. There was an old dirt path leading up to the shop. Although it was nighttime, the shop's lights were still on and Sakura could tell that the sign in the window was still flashing "Open"._

_The green-eyed girl was excited to find a shop. She quickly ran up to the old building, happy that she wouldn't have to go wondering around the countryside all night. Sakura, being the cute naïve girl that she was, didn't second guess as to why a little shop was stationed in the middle of open country where it could not possibly have good business, if it had any business at all._

"How old am I supposed to be in this story?" Sakura asked, thinking that Tomoyo _must_ be imagining a younger version of herself for the story.

"Well, you're as you are now. Why?" Tomoyo asked, curiously.

Rika sweatdropped. "Don't worry about it, just continue with your story."

_A little bell rang as Sakura stepped through the shop's door. The shop sold little Japanese trinkets like charms, seals, bracelets, candy, incense, and other little knickknacks. There was a little desk in the back of the shop that a little old woman sat behind, dressed in a dusty kimono._

"_Hello there little girl, it seems you're a little early to be trick-or-treating. Isn't that tomorrow night?" The little old lady asked._

_Sakura shook her head. "Oh, I'm not here to trick-or-treat, I've lost my way home and I was wondering if I could borrow a map or a phone."_

"_Ah yes, I do have a map, as for a phone, I paid my bill late and it won't be working until tomorrow morning." The old lady explained._

_Sakura smiled and clapped her hands together. "If I could borrow your map I would be very grateful."_

"_By all means." The old lady said. She searched through her drawers and pulled out an old and wrinkled map._

_Sakura carefully unfolded the map. The map was at least twenty years old though, and the area on it looked unfamiliar to her. She re-folded the map and placed it back on the desk._

"_I'm sorry, but it doesn't seem that this map is going to help me." Sakura said. "Is there another shop nearby with a working phone?"_

_The old lady shook her head. "I'm sorry sweety, but you must have walked a long way to get here. There are no other buildings for at least another five miles."_

"_Oh," Sakura sighed, feeling a little sad that she wouldn't be getting home that night._

"_If you would like though," the old lady began, "you can stay the night here and use the phone in the morning."_

_Sakura's eyes lit up. "You would let me stay?"_

_The old lady nodded. "Yes dear, you may stay. It's no good to have young ladies tracking through the countryside at this hour. It wouldn't be good for your health."_

_Sakura nodded, trying not to think of what 'unhealthy' things included._

"Only you would come up with that." Chiharu interrupted, raising an eyebrow at Tomoyo.

"I'm just being realistic." Tomoyo explained.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Because Sakura skipping down the random countryside dressed up for Halloween and trick-or-treating the day before Halloween is realistic."

Naoko hushed her interrupting and incredulous friends. "Seriously guys, you're ruining it for me."

Sakura began to munch on some candy corn as Tomoyo continued with her story yet again.

_The old lady showed Sakura to a little room in the back of the shop. There was a twin bed and a small desk. There was also a little window veiled with translucent curtains, giving a view of the grass and trees behind the shop._

"_You may stay here tonight, I'll be asleep upstairs if you need anything." The old lady said._

_Sakura nodded and she was soon left alone. She tried to go to sleep, having borrowed a long, flannel nightgown from the old lady, but she found that she was unable to fall asleep. She kept tossing and turning restlessly. _

_Finally, when she realized that she wasn't going to be falling asleep any time soon, she sat up in bed. She flicked on the lights. Sakura went to the little desk and opened the drawers, hoping to find a book to read or some paper on which to doodle._

_The drawers had some old magazines in them as well as a few newspapers, but nothing that Sakura found interesting. She soon grew cold outside of her blankets, and went to the foot of her bed where she had left her striped tights. She bent down to grab them when she noticed something under the bed._

_Sakura knew that she shouldn't have looked at whatever it was, but her curiosity got the better of her and she reached under the bed to pull out a little shoebox. Like everything else in the house, it was covered in dust. She opened the lid to find what appeared to be a little diary._

_It would be an invasion of privacy if Sakura looked, there was no denying it, but she couldn't help herself. She opened the diary and read. It began very normal. It seemed that it belonged to the old lady that ran the shop. It started out when she was about perhaps thirty or forty and just opening the shop._

_After a few entries concerning the opening of the shop, the tale the diary told became strange. The old lady had written about a little room in the back of the shop, the same room that Sakura was staying in, and of how weird noises could be heard from inside at night. It told of how she would go to the room and there would be nothing, but when she would shut the door the noises would start again._

_At this point, Sakura was thoroughly freaked out, but she found that she could not put the diary down or stop reading the words on the pages. The diary went on to describe of how the old lady began having dreams about things happening in the room, horrible things. She had dreams of a young girl being locked inside the room, trapped for long periods of time without food or water._

_It seems that in the old woman's dreams, the girl ended up dying in the room, haunting it. Every night, the old lady heard scratches, and every night she had the same dream where the girl died in the room. Until she finally realized, and wrote in red ink, that the little girl in the room had been herself, and that the old lady now was actually a ghost, tied to that shop, never able to leave._

_Sakura was shaken to the core. Certainly this was all nonsense. None of this diary could actually be real. It was all imagined. None-the-less, Sakura quickly stripped off her nightgown given to her by the old lady. She pulled on her witch costume in anxiety, aware of every sound that she made._

_She tip-toed to the door and tried to open it, finding that it was locked. Sakura panicked for a moment, but she regained her wits and summoned her magic staff, using the Key Card to unlock the door. As Sakura slipped into the main section of the shop, she saw the old lady at the exit, holding a hatchet in her hands._

_Without thinking Sakura threw a card up into the air._

"_Freeze time!"_

_Knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold time for long, she ran past the old lady and transformed her staff into wings. She shot out the door into the night. Although she made it out safely and managed to return home, when she went back later during the day with the police, the shop was gone. The police asked citizens of the nearby towns, but none of them had ever heard of the shop before._

_The End!!_

"What?" Chiharu asked, the look on her face let everyone know she thought the story was lame.

"Okay, so why did Sakura use her magic wand once she was in danger, but not when she was lost in the country?" Rika pointed out. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it doesn't." Tomoyo said. "Have you _seen_ most of the horror movies out there? Most of the plotlines have major holes."

"I liked your story, but it wasn't really that scary, even for me." Sakura said.

Tomoyo pouted a little. "Well I liked it because it starred kawaii Sakura."

"Does your boyfriend approve of your Sakura obsession?" Naoko asked.

"Well…it's not really an _obsession_, more like a hobby." Tomoyo answered.

Before anyone could even send her a strange glance, the doorbell rang.

"Are those trick-or-treaters?" Sakura asked.

Tomoyo opened the door to find a pumpkin, Link, and a ninja on her doorstep. They had smiles on their faces and their buckets were full of candy.

"You boys are a little early." Chiharu said from her seat in the living room.

"We've got about as much candy as we can carry." Syaoran said.

"It's true," Takashi agreed, "Eriol even turned his hat upside down so that he could hold more candy."

Eriol held out what had been his pumpkin stem hat, now acting as a pale to hold candy. Tomoyo clapped her hands and smiled at the boys.

"Good job everyone, come inside and dump the candy out in the living room."

"Wait a second, it's not nine yet, they can still go back out and get us more candy!" Chiharu exclaimed.

"Come on Chiharu, give them a _little_ break." Sakura said.

"Yeah," Rika agreed, "besides, it's almost nine anyway."

"So what were you ladies doing while we were gone?" Eriol asked, taking a seat on the rug next to Tomoyo.

"We were telling ghost stories." Naoko said, jumping in excitement.

"Ghost stories?" Syaoran said distastefully.

"It's alright Syaoran, they're not very scary." Sakura assured.

"The last story wasn't, but this one will be!" Naoko said, flashing her flashlight in everyone's eyes.

_Rika entered an old, abandoned hospital. She had dressed in a little, red dress in hopes of sunny weather, but the weather was cloudy and overcast. She had her camera around her neck and a little book bag hanging at her hip. She was at the hospital for a report she was writing on a few doctors who had been doing odd experiments on patients during the 1950s._

_The young reporter was going to go through the hospital in search of reports, documents, and any other evidence she could find to support her theory. Because the hospital had been immediately shut down after the doctors' procedures came into the public light, it was left in similar condition from over 50 years ago. It was a time capsule, just waiting for Rika to sift through its contents._

_The door to the hospital had been boarded up, but after almost 60 years of weathering, it hadn't been hard for Rika to remove the wood and slip in through the doors. She entered the front desk and waiting area. The walls and floor tiles were badly deteriorated. Everything was a shade of grey from being covered in so much dust._

_Rika made her way to the front desk on which there were stacks of old papers and files. There was an old telephone sitting on the desk, a yellow-white color. Rika picked up the receiver and wasn't surprised to find that the line was dead. After placing the receiver back down, she began her search of the patients' former rooms._

_The young reporter went through a couple of rooms, taking pictures before disturbing any items. She came across a few patient reports. Each of them contained recordings of odd types of treatment. One patient, an adult male, had his blood drained in his right arm. The other patient, a young girl, had been forced to listen to some odd sort of music._

_It wasn't long before Rika came upon the office of a doctor on the first floor. His name was still on a rusted metal plate on the front of the door. Rika juggled her camera in her right hand as she pushed the door open with her left hand, clutching some of the patient reports._

_Upon opening the door, Rika was stunned to see who looked liked a doctor standing in the office with his back to her, looking out the window. She was so surprised she almost lost a hold of her camera, accidentally taking a picture and setting off the flash. The light hit the doctor, causing him not only to scream out in pain, but to become transparent to Rika._

_Rika was chocked with fear, dropping the reports that were in her left hand. She was frozen with papers at her feet as the doctor turned around to face the young woman, his eyes red and what appeared to be blood running down his face. He slowly began to make his way toward Rika._

_Her mouth opened but she could not scream. She did the only thing her mind would let her do. She pressed her finger down on the camera, taking another picture. The light flashed again and the ghost of a former doctor sank into the floor and disappeared. _

_The room was silent, nothing moved and nothing made a sound. It took a few moments before Rika regained her wits and bent down to quickly gather the fallen reports and shove them into her book bag. She knew what she had seen was real and she knew that her body was screaming to run out of the hospital and never return. But Rika could not leave. Not yet._

_An audible gulp broke the silence as Rika swallowed her fear and continued to search the room. This report would give her better story opportunities in the future; it would give her a name. It was scary, but as long as she had a hold of her camera she should be fine. She couldn't let this opportunity pass her. It might be the only one she would get._

_Her decision to stay soon proved to be a good one. Rika found a journal in the desk, probably belonging to the doctor she had just seen Instead of thoroughly reading through it as she had done with the other reports she had found, she simply flipped through the pages before stuffing it into her bag. After encountering the doctor she had come up with a new policy. Collect information first, read it later!_

_Once she was done with her investigation of the first floor, Rika was beginning to question if what she had seen had been her imagination, or some kind of prank set up by some kids. She approached the stairs._

'_One down, two more to go.' Rika thought, concerning floors in the hospital._

_She took a deep breath and placed her first foot on the stair. She was unable to climb through as a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder. The poor girl shrieked and whipped around, taking a picture with a blinding flash._

"_Gha!" The figure gasped, stumbling backward. "Rika, what did you do that for?"_

_Rika blinked in confusion. Standing before her, rubbing his eyes, was Yoshiyuki Terada. She gasped before throwing her arms around her boyfriend in a great hug._

"_I'm so glad you're here, I thought…well, you startled me!"_

_Yoshiyuki laughed. "Remind me to never do that again."_

_Now that his vision was cleared, he took a good look at his girlfriend, who was staring up at him with her hands on her hips. He looked her up and down once before raising an eyebrow._

"_You're doing research through a dusty hospital while wearing _that_?" The older man asked._

_Rika crossed her arms in embarrassment. "Never mind. I have to get working."_

_She started up the stairs again but paused and looked at her boyfriend. "What are you doing here anyway?"_

_Yoshiyuki smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Well you know, I didn't want you to be alone and freaked out in this dusty old hospital. I thought I'd tag along and keep you company."_

_Rika smiled and began her journey up the stairs again. "Well then, come help me look."_

_Yoshiyuki bounded up the stairs after her, pulling his camera out of his pocket._

"_Would it be alright it I used this?"_

_Rika nodded, feeling some relief. "Sure!"_

_On the second floor were more patients' rooms and the media room containing the PA system and the radio controls. The pair made their way to that room first, seeing all of its contents through its large glass windows. Although it was clear that nobody was inside, Rika just couldn't shake off a weird feeling that something wasn't right. The two entered the room though, with no problems._

_There were sheets of music and documents concerning the strange songs the nurses made the children listen to. Songs that were supposed to help them get better. Yoshiyuki sifted through the music sheets as Rika took pictures._

"_What do you say, onto the net room?" Yoshiyuki asked._

_Rika nodded, eager to move onto their next destination. They made to the door, but the figure of a nurse blocked their way. Yoshiyuki actually recoiled with a yell of surprise. Rika used her fast reflexes to snap two pictures. The flash lit the room twice and the nurse screamed before melting to the floor, just as the doctor had done._

_The two sat paralyzed in silence staring at the place where the nurse had been standing. Rika slowly looked at Yoshiyuki, hoping he wouldn't dash out of the hospital. He just looked at her though, his chest heaving._

"_That's not the first time that's happened, is it?" He asked, although not expecting an answer._

"_No," Rika said, giving it to him anyway._

"_So…you just take its picture and it goes away?" Yoshiyuki asked._

_Rika nodded. "Just a couple of flashes should do."_

"_Alright, we should move on." Yoshiyuki said, yanking the door of the media room open._

_Rika followed suit and hurried out of the room. They had an unspoken agreement at that moment. _

_Don't speak, don't pause, just do the work and get the hell out._

_Yoshiyuki didn't ask Rika how she had discovered to dispel the ghosts, or if they were both going crazy. He decided that he would leave such questions for a more convenient time. Such as when they were both out of the hospital._

_The pair grabbed as many documents and took as many pictures as they could handle. It all boiled down to the very last room left to search. It was time to enter the surgery room._

_Rika grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the door open. It creaked forward to reveal a dark room with many tables covered in what used to be white clothes, spattered with aged blood. The pair worked fast, anxious to escape. They photographed the devices used for "treatment" and grabbed a few journals before heading for the door._

_As Rika's hand was on the doorknob, she heard a terrible cracking sound behind her. It sounded as if it was coming deep from within someone's throat. She and Yoshiyuki turned to find a doctor a few feet behind them, holding the ghostly remains of his bloody surgeon instruments._

_Yoshiyuki acted fast and flashed a picture. This did little to stun the ghost, merely making him pause for a few seconds before advancing toward the couple. Rika flashed another fast picture, also having little effect._

_The reporter and her boyfriend pressed themselves against the back of the door, desperately taking picture after picture. They fell into a panic as the ghost grew inches away. It grabbed a hold of Rika's wrist and yanked it forward. The ghost gave and evil smile before slicing a thin, shallow, line down the smooth part of her arm with his scalpel._

_Yoshiyuki flashed his camera, once, twice, three times, before the ghost finally shrieked and fell into the floor. He grabbed his girlfriend's arm and they dashed down three flights of stairs. The phone that had been dead earlier began ringing as the pair flew past the front desk, ignoring its pleas to be answered. They ran out of the hospital without looking back._

_Although Rika published her article, neither she nor Yoshiyuki told anyone about the ghosts they saw, or showed anyone the pictures they took. Rika did gain enough evidence to convince the city to make the hospital an 'off limits' zone, but not much else._

_The young reporter could do nothing else but pray that nobody else would try and brave through the hospital. The wound that the doctor gave her became infected and festered, refusing to heal for a month, giving Rika a constant reminder that what had happened to her and her boyfriend had been real. The pictures were developed, revealing ghosts in some pictures where they hadn't been seen by Rika or Yoshiyuki. Some of the pictures containing Rika or Yoshiyuki also contained a ghost standing right next to them, staring at them with dead eyes or haunted expressions._

_Although the horror was over, and neither encountered a ghost again, their time in the hospital continued to haunt them for the rest of their lives._

"The end." Naoko announced, content with her story.

"I liked that story." Rika announced.

"Only because you were in it." Sakura pointed out, gripping onto Syaoran's hand and trying to act like it hadn't scared her.

"Your story was scarier than Tomoyo's." Chiharu stated.

"What was your story about?" Eriol questioned, gazing at his girlfriend.

Tomoyo bowed her head to hide the faint blush on her face. "Oh, you know, it was about Sakura wondering around the countryside, dealing with angry ghosts."

Chiharu shook her head. Takashi, sitting next to her, grinned and mentioned that the story sounded interesting. Everyone knew that he was trying to make her feel less embarrassed, although he didn't know what from.

"Why doesn't one of you boys try telling us a story?" Rika suggested, munching on some kettle corn.

"May I point to my cute little descendant?" Eriol asked, pointing to Syaoran.

Syaoran was about to send a glare to the four-eyed pumpkin, but everyone else seemed excited at the proposition, so Syaoran let it slide. He wracked his brain for a few moments, thinking of a story he could tell that would be scary, but wouldn't freak Sakura out too much. The light bulb in his head blinked on and he got an evil grin on his face.

"Once upon a time, Sakura was wondering through the country side-"

"We already heard that one!" Naoko interrupted, wanting some variety to their storytelling.

"Fine!" Syaoran said, crossing his arms.

The group stared at the Chinese boy from their seats in the circle. They watched him brood over what story he could tell. The evil grin returned.

"Once upon a time, _Eriol_ was walking through the countryside."

Naoko and Rika glanced at each other before rolling their eyes, letting Syaoran slide this time. Takashi and Eriol seemed to be the only ones who were genuinely interested in where this story was about to go.

_Eriol, walked down the muddy road between the rice paddies (sp?). He was wearing his summoning robes, not minding that they were growing filthy in the mud that he trekked through. His hands were loosely linked behind his back in a carefree manner, not seeming to care that he didn't know where he was, or where he was going._

"This seems familiar." Tomoyo whispered to herself.

_The young magician came upon an old shrine that had long been absent of any mikos or tourists. It was dusty, rotting, and about to collapse at the slightest wind. Being Eriol though, he didn't seem to care that by entering the shrine he would possibly be endangering his life, or the structure of the temple, and he entered it anyway._

_The shrine was fairly small. The first step was broken and the railing was sagging. There were traces of paint, having long been weathered away. The ropes were frayed and anything that used to be shining metal was now rusted and ruined._

_The only thing that was not old, and was what had drawn Eriol to the shrine in the first place, was a shining mirror in the back, on top of a little table. Eriol carefully tread across the creaking wood floor toward the mirror. He was very cautious, perceiving that the floorboards might not be able to hold his weight. He made it to the mirror without trouble and began to reach out for it._

"_Stop!" A voice cried._

_Eriol turned to see a beautiful miko standing at the top of the shrine's steps. She had long dark hair that was let loose and her eyes were filled with a warning look._

"I wonder who the miko could be." Takashi said, glancing at Tomoyo casually.

"_Is this your mirror?" Eriol asked._

_The miko nodded. "You cannot take it from the shrine."_

"_And if I do?"_

"_A terrible curse will be placed upon you."_

_Eriol smiled, as he always managed to do, but the miko simply watched him._

"_That is a problem, because I need this mirror." Eriol said to the miko. "Are you here to protect it?"_

_She nodded._

"_Why don't you come over here?" Eriol suggested._

_The miko floated across the room. No floorboards creaked under her feet. She stood in front of Eriol, an empty look in her eyes. The young magician merely nodded._

"_As I thought." He gave the miko a warm smile. "You are not of this world, are you?"_

_He asked a question, but the miko knew that he already knew the answer. She reached out to touch him, but only a cold wind brushed against his skin. Eriol's hand glowed with a warm light, and when he reached out to touch her he made contact._

_True emotion seeped into the miko's face._

"…_What?"_

"_I think you've been guarding this mirror long enough." Eriol told her. "Maybe you should let someone else take care of it."_

_The miko didn't say anything, her eyes were glued to her hand where the magician was touching her. He used his free hand to grab the mirror. This made the sleeping spirits awaken._

"_You are hunted now." The miko said, looking quickly into Eriol's eyes. "They won't stop until you're dead, until they have your soul, until you're damned to wander with them."_

_Eriol's smile conveyed no other emotion other than calm. "Well then, we certainly can't let _that_ happen."_

_The spirits of former mikos and priests rose from the ground, filling the small shrine. They all faced Eriol and the miko, intending to take care of them both._

"_Now we are both doomed." The miko said evenly, already having accepted her fate._

"_There's one thing you should probably know about me," Eriol said, a glyph glowing brightly below his feet, "I don't follow the rules very well."_

_A white light filled the small shrine, exorcising all of the lost souls. They each made a screeching sound that echoed into a sigh of relief. The spirits dissipated and became one with the light. The miko next to Eriol looked at him in wonder as she too began to dissipate._

"_I…don't know how to thank you." She said softly. "I've been trapped here for so long."_

_Eriol put his hand on the girl's transparent shoulder, causing wings to appear on her back._

"_Like I said, it's time for someone else to watch over this mirror. You need to rest."_

_The miko nodded and gave the faintest of smiles._

"_Yes, that sounds pleasant."_

_When the light faded the spirits were gone. The shrine was left dark and quiet. Eriol looked into the mirror to see Clow's face smiling back at him._

"_It's time we had a chat, right Clow-sama?"_

"The end!" Syaoran said triumphantly.

"I don't see how that was supposed to be scary." Naoko said.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, "no offense or anything Syaoran, but even _I_ wasn't scared by that story."

Syaoran sat up on the backs of his heels. "It's scary because Eriol survives and brings back someone _just like him_."

A piece of candy flew through the air and hit Syaoran on the head, courtesy of Tomoyo.

"What was that for?" Syaoran asked.

"You deserved it." Tomoyo said simply.

"It's your own fault, _you_ chose _me _to tell the story."

"Enough, children," Takashi interrupted, "why don't we just settle for watching a scary movie?"

"Let's watch _Ju-On_!" Naoko suggested.

"No!" Sakura cried, causing her boyfriend to glare at the girl in the bunny costume.

"Sakura's not going to like any movie you guys pick, so it doesn't matter which scary movie you choose." Chiharu said.

"We want everyone to enjoy it though." Rika said.

"Maybe you should choose a movie with zombies instead." Eriol suggested.

"I can handle zombie movies." Sakura said brightly.

After much arguing, the group finally decided on a zombie movie…after which they watched _Ju-On_. It was a sleepless night for almost everyone, except Eriol and Naoko, who weren't troubled by mere ghosts. Sakura swore off scary movies _again_ but everyone knew that she would be back next year, doing the same exact thing.

XXXXXX

VictorianPearl: Wow, this is the longest one-shot I've ever written.

Li: I'm very proud of you.

VictorianPearl: You should be! I don't know why, but I got inspired by the spirit of the month. Also, my friend made me play the latest Fatal Frame on the Wii, and since it was in Japanese and I couldn't understand half of it, it left a lot of mystery to the storyline.

Li: Readers, enjoy this one-shot, who knows when another will be posted.

VictorianPearl: Actually, I'm considering posting a Thanksgiving one-shot, on Thanksgiving Day. It will have to be AU though, because this is obviously not a day they celebrate in Japan. I like the idea so much though that I'm going to post it anyway. I'm mixing cultures!

Li: Aside from that, it's probably going to be another dry-spell in the one-shot zone.

VictorianPearl: That may or may not be, but I'm going to get my laptop back on Friday, so Eternal Flame will be coming soon!


	17. Goodbye, for Now

VictorianPearl: Random inspiration has hit again!

Li: Thank goodness. Notes are at the end of the chapter.

Rating: K+

Genre: Fluff

Summary: The cards were sealed and everything was finally calm…but not for long. She found out that Eriol was leaving for England, and that Syaoran loved her. This is what might have happened if she had just had a little more time to talk with him.

Title: Goodbye, for Now

Sakura walked to Syaoran's apartment, clutching a small paper bag to her chest. She kept her pink face down so that nobody would see her blush. She had to give him Mizuki-san's present. She was glad for the excuse to see him, but she was scared because she didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to tell him about the swelling pain in her chest that made her feel so nice and so sick at the same time.

The green-eyed girl breathed in deeply and whispered her unbeatable spell to herself. She had captured all of the Clow cards, and then turned them into Sakura cards. She had been scared for herself and her friends, but none of it had felt as it did now. This fear of meeting Syaoran was the worst kind of fear she had ever felt. She didn't know why, but she just knew that _somehow_ whatever she said to him would change both of their lives.

As Syaoran's apartment came into view, Sakura's heart dropped suddenly. She clutched the little bag tighter to her chest and blinked back sudden tears. There were moving trucks outside his apartment. Why? Was he leaving too, just as Eriol was leaving? Maybe he just needed a smaller place to live.

Sakura knew she was wrong though.

She spotted Syaoran speaking to the people moving his furniture into the trucks and her heart leapt painfully in her chest. Sakura swallowed deeply because her heart was beating so fast it felt as if it might jump out of her throat. Any plans of what to say to Syaoran flew out of her head. Her mind went completely blank. The only thing she could think about was how he had told her he loved her.

Sakura approached Syaoran slowly, waiting for him to finish talking. When he did, she waved a little to grab his attention. Syaoran's eyes widened and he stared at her in a way that made her toes tingle. Surprise was not a strong enough word for the look on his face.

"S-Sakura-chan, hi." Syaoran stuttered in his shock. "What are you doing here?"

The girl bent her head to hide her blush and thrust the package out in front of him. "A present, from Mizuki-san."

"Oh, thank you." Syaoran said quietly, gently taking the package from Sakura.

Now that the present had been passed on, Sakura's mind was blank again. She wanted to say something, but her throat was throbbing. She just looked at Syaoran hopefully.

It didn't seem that the boy noticed her predicament (as he was too busy with is own). He just looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Do you want to go on a walk with me?"

His cheeks were red and his hands were clenched at his sides. Sakura took small notice of this and realized she wasn't the only one who was scared, and this thought calmed her a little.

"Of course, Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran smiled and Sakura felt herself melting. Her feet moved on their own, they _must_ have, because the rest of her body wished to stay there and look at that face that could be so gentle. They walked though, to the park, and he hesitantly wrapped his fingers around hers.

This certainly hadn't been the first time that Sakura had touched Syaoran, but if felt like it was. She sucked in her breath at the contact. Her fingers tingled as blood now seemed to be rushing through her body. She tightened her fingers around his, hoping he wouldn't let go.

When they got to the park, Syaoran pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to Sakura.

"It's my address and phone number in Hong Kong." Syaoran explained as Sakura took the paper. "You will write?"

Sakura smiled and put the paper in her backpack. "Of course I will. Actually…" She took a paper of her own out of the backpack. "I was hoping you would write to me too."

Syaoran's face gained that beyond surprised look again, as if he really hadn't been expecting her to want to write to him, much less want _him_ to write to _her_. He nodded though and smiled widely, taking the paper.

"I'll write to you too, Sakura-chan." Syaoran said.

He folded the paper and put it in his pocket. When he looked up, he was stunned to find tears running down Sakura's face.

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

She gasped and looked him straight in the eye. "You…you called me just Sakura."

Thinking that this had been a big mistake, Syaoran grabbed the watery-eyed girl's hands quickly. "No, I mean, yes I did, but I didn't mean it! I mean, I did, but I was worried about you…I _am_ worried about you."

He had an apologetic look on his face, but Sakura just shook her head and smiled through her tears. "It's alright, I like it."

The Chinese boy simply stared at her after her next words…or rather, word.

"Syaoran,"

When she said his name, _just_ his name, it unleashed emotions that Syaoran had managed to control up until now. His eyes began to water and his lip quivered. When he first met Sakura, he had been so stoic, cold, and even mean. He hadn't needed anyone, and now he couldn't feel anymore different from that boy he had been. He loved Sakura and he _needed_ her presence now.

"I'm sorry I have to leave tomorrow." Syaoran whispered.

Sakura didn't say anything, just cried harder at the new knowledge that he was leaving in what was probably less than 24 hours.

He couldn't take it anymore. He thought that telling her he loved her would be enough. He thought that meeting her and knowing that he would be able to write to her would be enough.

But it wasn't.

He wrapped his arms around her and brought her to him in a deep hug. She responded by clasping the back of his shirt and crying into his chest. She felt the wet tears drop onto her scalp, and she felt him shake with sobs. His actions seemed to be fuel for hers, and she only cried harder.

In a few minutes though, their crying died down, but they stayed in their hug, afraid to let go. Sakura was afraid that if she let go that she would never see him again, and _that_ feeling spoke loudly to her.

Syaoran forced himself to pull out of the hug. His hands wiped away the tears on his face. She mimicked his actions. Once they had returned to normal (or as normal as it was going to get) he offered her a sad smile.

"I have to get back to my apartment, because they're moving my stuff and all…"

Sakura nodded quickly. "It's alright, you should take care of that."

Syaoran nodded and gave her one last look before running off. Sakura just smiled though as she too ran home. There was something she needed to do.

The hours went by quickly. She didn't even eat dinner because she was so determined in her work. She had to finish the bear and give it to Syaoran before he went back to Hong Kong. She had to tell him that she loved him. She glanced at Kero, who was sleeping soundly. She breathed a sigh of relief. The bear was finished.

Sakura startled as her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID before answering. "Hello Tomoyo-chan, how are you?"

"Not good." Tomoyo's frantic voice came from over the line.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, becoming more awake and aware. "Did something happen at your choir concert?"

"It's Syaoran, Terada-sensei told me that his flight got rescheduled and he's leaving for Hong Kong tonight instead of tomorrow."

"Tonight?!" Sakura glanced at the clock that read 8:55pm.

"His flight leaves at 10:00 tonight, you have to hurry and find him if you want to say goodbye."

Sakura said a quick goodbye before stuffing the bear into her backpack and grabbing her roller blades. She was out the door in an instant. She breathed heavily in the cool, night air. She forced her legs to work hard so that she could get to Syaoran's apartment _fast_ before he left. The adrenaline was pumping and she didn't feel fatigued at all. She only felt a terrible anxiousness to get to her destination immediately.

As Sakura rounded the corner, she spotted a bus in front of Syaoran's apartment in the distance. She saw the Chinese boy boarding the bus. She dug her skates into the ground and glided even faster toward the bus. She whipped her backpack to her front and grabbed the precious bear from it. She almost lost control as she skidded to a stop next to the bus, but she somehow managed to keep from falling down.

There he was, at the window seat.

"Syaoran!" Sakura cried out weakly, her lungs catching up with her body, forcing her to breath deeply.

He heard her though, and quickly pushed the window open. "Sakura! I'll write to you, I promise!" He said in a rush before the bus had to leave.

Sakura handed the bear to him and he grabbed it, looking at her with the most wide and hopeful eyes she had ever seen.

"I love you too, Syaoran. You'll always be my number one."

Rather than gape or stare, Syaoran managed to gain control of himself and he smiled happily at Sakura. "It will be alright! I'm coming back someday, I promise!"

The bus screeched as the gears shifted into drive. Sakura waved desperately to him. "We'll definitely meet again!"

Syaoran practically dangled himself from the window and waved back until the bus turned the corner. Now that the adrenaline was gone, and he was gone, Sakura sank down onto the sidewalk. She looked up at the stars and prayed that she wouldn't have to wait long until she saw him again. She didn't know how, but she just knew, that it wouldn't be long.

VVV

VictorianPearl: I'm in a very fluffy mood, which is why I wrote this very fluffy story (or at least fluffy by my standards). It's been a while since I've looked at the original story of CCS (considering that the last major work I did was AU) and I wanted to go back to the beginning…or was it the end? Well I think you understand.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I need to post more of these! They're really fun to write.


	18. Clow's Secret

VictorianPearl: There's a first time for everything, need I say more?

Rating: M

Genre: Angst

Summary: Clow has a secret he never told anyone, not even the person closest to him.

Title: Clow's Secret

The young woman didn't lie to herself, she just hid the truth. She dwelt on the past, but on a sugary sweet one. Her eyes were closed, but she knew she was alone in the room. She hadn't moved, she had barely even waken, but she already knew he was gone. He always was.

It hadn't always been this way. Things used to be so wonderful and exuberant. The days they had passed together had been loving and warm. His embraces had been that way too. Not now though. Now she only had memories to cling onto. Now she had to pretend that he loved her, noticed her, and cared for her.

Sun shown brightly in the room, warming her entire being and filling everything it touched with light. For just a moment, she could sigh and sink back into the bed and forget…but only for a moment. The young woman opened her eyes tentatively against the brightness of the sun. It, much like everything else, reminded her of him. She didn't know how she did it, but she could somehow connect everything back to him.

The sunlight dimmed a little and the young woman turned her face away from it. She looked down at his side of the bed. Her silky hair was splayed across the pillows, shinning with colors against the sun's light. Had he been there he might have run his hands though it, touched it softly before proceeding to touch her. But he wasn't there anymore.

The young woman contracted and wrapped her arms around the sheets and herself. She missed him. It killed her how much she missed him. It was worse than if he was really gone for good. By some twist of reality, having him near her everyday and seeing him everyday as she did now was even worse than if he were to be gone completely. Having to watch him and remember how his face used to light up when he saw her, or how he used to swing her around in energetic hugs was too painful. But how she hurt in the day didn't even compare to how she hurt at night.

Every night she cried. She cried because she could feel his warmth, hear his breath, watch his peaceful form, but she could not reach out to him. He had rejected her touch before and it stabbed a wound in her heart she had not been expecting. He had pushed her away and she didn't realize how deeply the ice was biting into her skin. He glared at her and she was too numb to feel her heart stop beating. But she couldn't let go of the man that once was.

How could she forget, or ask herself to forget how gently her husband used to hold her in his arms at night. Should she have to? No, she shouldn't have to ask herself to give up the feeling of him kissing her palms. She shouldn't have to forget the way he used to nuzzle her neck and make her giggle, or gently rest his warm weight upon her body and make her breath catch, or softly kiss her and stare into her eyes with such intensity that she thought she would cry, or scream. But maybe sometimes, she would rather just not remember.

When had it all started? It was hard to think through all of the grey that the past year had been, but she might have figured it out. It was with that creation of his. He had created those two guardians of his, and then he had created the cards. At first nothing had changed. He showed her The Sweet and told her he had made it while thinking of her. He had introduced her to the guardians and she had liked them. But fun turned into work, and work turned into obsession. Except the obsession didn't seem to be focusing on the work so much as it seemed to be focusing on not loving her.

The sunlight was blocked by a cloud and the room went grey. The young woman contracted deeper and wrapped her arms tighter around herself. Her mind was too clear. She remembered too well. It was as if he was there hugging her, pressing her back against his chest. She could almost feel his weight transferring onto her. She imagined his hands yanking the sheets from her body and instead covering her with his own. She whimpered softly, gently, urgently as his hands and his lips came into contact with her body. Her legs wrapped around him and brought them closer together. It had been much too long. Her once clear mind was now clouded with him. Heat gathered even though the room was still grey. The excitement was too much for her anxious body, and she clutched onto his stable form.

She fell back against the pillows, her body tingling with warmth. She opened her eyes to see navy hair spilling over her breasts, glistening in the light with the rise and fall of her breathing. She gently placed a hand on his head, not sure if he was a very good dream or a very good reality. He looked up at her with those soft blue eyes and it reminded her of the first time she had met him. They twinkled as the cloud passed and the light beamed in once again through the window.

"Forgive me?"

She should have flatly said no. There were so many things he had done to hurt her. She had suffered for so long, enduing an eternity of pain alone. Her mind had gone from youthful and clear to bent and cloudy because of him! And he thought he could erase it all with a simple apology?

But in the end, that was all she needed to hear, because he had the power to make everything better with one glance. He could calm her spirits with a few gentle words. He had the power to make her feel completely better by only hugging her. And truly, an apology was all that she had been wanting the entire time.

"Forgiven,"

~*~

VictorianPearl: When life sucks, you take it and turn it into a one-shot. It was good for me to change the pace a little and try something new. I have to say, I felt much better taking all of my negative energy and creating this one-shot (although I'm not sure how I came to think it up) rather than just sitting and feeling miserable. The one-shot itself is a little ambiguous, but I guess you can use your imagination a little with this one.


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